


Me and My Shadow: Shadow

by Alurax



Series: Me and My Shadow [3]
Category: Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-05-12
Updated: 2014-03-25
Packaged: 2017-12-12 14:46:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 31,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/812765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alurax/pseuds/Alurax
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Link's soul has been intertwined with the Spiritual Stone of Spirit. With his options either being, imprisonment with the stone, or dying, Link and Knil set out to find a cure to this issue. LinkxKnil Bromance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Technically part 2. Direct continuation from Spirit. Enjoy.

The golden light began to dissipate, leaving the two swordsmen standing within the large stone temple. Knil glanced around, feeling uneasy. "What is this place?" He asked, his gaze finally landing on three glowing stones, hovering above an alter. The glow was similar to the Spiritual Stone of Light, but it wasn't nearly as bright. He made his way over to examine them more closely.

Link watched him, having not yet answered his former question.

There was a red, a blue and a green stone, all of varying designs, and each perfectly describing themselves. A flame, a leaf and a snowflake, the three blue crystals almost seeming like bubbles. Each of them were trimmed with gold, to accent and focus the energy of the crystals. Being so close, it became more apparent that the energy from these were far different than the Stone of Spirit. While the Light Stone's power was intense to the point where you could almost breath in its energy, these were a lot more subtle. Kind of like a warm aura that comforted him. Like a connection, bound by a promise, made over these three stones.

For some reason, he felt more drawn to the blue stone, and a rock fell into his gut as to why that may have been. This had to be the Spiritual Stone of Water. All his years in that temple had given him an unbreakable connection to that place. It made him angrier just thinking about it.

"You alright?" Link asked, peering over his shoulder.

Knil's gaze was momentarily venomous, but he drew it back quickly, shifting back to the stones. "What is this place?" He asked again, standing up straight.

"It's the Temple of Time." He pointed across the alter, into the small room, in the back. "Right back there was where I found the Master Sword." An almost regretful look sparked in his eyes. "That's how I wound up in the Temple of The Sages."

Knil cast a sideways look to his lighter half. That twinge of kinship hit him again. Did this place make Link feel uneasy as well? Was it, possibly, for the same reason, or was Knil just picking up on Link's empathy? The shadow shook the thought from his head, and started back towards the entrance to the temple. "What are we doing here, anyway?"

"We're going to see Zelda." Link stated boldly, following him.

Knil just froze, his entire body clenching with the fists at his sides. Link just walked past him, trying not to laugh. He knew he'd react like this.

Resisting the urge to openly face palm, Knil just growled. "Why?"

"I believe she can help us." Link spun around, standing in the doorway. The daylight, from the open door haloing his form. "Zelda knows more about the Spiritual Stones than anyone else, I know." A rather sappy smile of camaraderie slid onto his face, as he spoke, eyes seeming unfocused. "She holds the Triforce of Wisdom, and is the Princess of this land." The gaze cleared, and Link smiled back to Knil. "She's bound to know some way to help. Come on." He started off, waving a hand for him to follow, and called back. "She's actually really nice, if you give her a chance."

Knil continued to glare, huffing in aggravation. Still, he resolved to get this mess sorted out, and followed.

xXx

The guards around the palace reminded Knil a lot of the Gerudo. They seemed to accept Link well enough, but continued to glare at his shadow as though he were a vicious beast that would lash out and bite their faces off. Pretty fair assessment, but it still wasn't nice for them to judge.

Link seemed to find it amusing, and starting off in some story that Knil was only half paying attention to. Something about how he had to sneak around guards, and climb through some kind of waterway, but it didn't matter. Knil's eyes continued to scan the area. He felt an odd sense of foreboding, even more so than he had in the Temple. Considering they were so close, maybe this was where the feeling was radiating from. Even with the sun gleaming brightly over the turrets, Knil still felt as though each one was a dark shadow looming over him. The entire castle looked black for some reason. Which was odd, considering it was constructed entirely of white marble. The closer they got to the castle, the more the feeling of unease grew, but Link seemed completely oblivious to it. This place was pristine and orderly. Filled with guards, and all kinds of rules... that had to be it. The castle was another prison. That had to be why he was feeling so trapped.

That is, until they got to the castle. There was a small mote tracing the walls, but when Knil looked down, his knees buckled from what he saw. Flaming lava flowed around the castle, burning deeper and deeper into the Earth, until it seemed as though it stretched down for miles, with no way of ever repairing itself. His hands shook, against the railing, hearing a deep mocking laughter in his head.

"Knil!" The laughter died down, and Knil's head snapped around in time to see Link pull his hand away, startled. He had just became aware of how badly he was sweating, mouth dry from being unable to catch his breath. Link looked a bit lost, and concerned. "I-is something wrong?"

Not even sure himself, Knil glanced back over the side seeing the lava had now, somehow, become a fresh spring of water, outlining the castle. At the moment, seeming the lesser of two evils.

Link gently put an arm around his shoulder. "You look terrible. Come on. We're both tired. We can rest, once we get inside." He started to lead him inside, when Knil's eyes drifted up the front of the castle. A strong surge of terror flooded through him, again. The tall white towers turned pitch black, the sky fading into a shade of dark blood red. Lightning streaked across the sky, and Knil jerked himself out of Link's grasp. "No!"

"What's wrong?" Link's confusion was masked with concern. He had known Knil to be scared before, but showing it this openly? What was going on? Cautiously, he approached his shadow, as the frightened animal he seemed to be. "Knil? Are you ok?"

Knil was visibly shaking, staring wide eyed up at the castle. "G-Ganon." He gasped, holding his arms around himself, as if suddenly cold.

"What?" Link had actually had trouble hearing the soft voice, but glanced up, as if trying to see what he was seeing. "Knil, this is Zelda's castle. It's safe here."

Ivan had drifted back a bit, floating along side Navi, confused as to her master's actions.

"N-no. No, he's here. I can feel him. I know that energy. I know that feeling." He rambled softly, all the while, backing away from the castle.

"He who?" Link asked calmly, still making his way over to him. "You mean Ganondorf?" Given his reaction, Link was sure that was who he meant. "Knil, listen to me... Ganondorf's gone. Zelda and I took care of him. He's locked away, in the sacred realm. We're not ever going to see him again."

Knil seemed to suddenly become aware of Link's presence. "Locked away?" His voice was a bit louder now, and very quick with panic. "He's still alive?"

"Well, yes, technically, but there's no way for him to ever get out." Link gently took Knil's shaking hands, shocked at how cold his skin felt. "Knil, listen to me. He's gone. Ganon is never going to hurt you, or anyone else, ever again."

"No. He will."

"Do you understand?"

That deep laughter reverberated in his head again. "No."

"Knil, it's fine. You have to trust me."

"NO! Get away from me!" He shrieked, shoving Link away.

"Knil!"

Knil's eyes snapped up the side of the castle again, but he turned away quickly. He suddenly felt very hot, running a hand through his sweat soaked bangs. _"Even if you, somehow, manage to break my barrier, you will never escape me."_ Knil felt his eyes haze over, wanting to run, but his legs felt too weak.

He collapsed to his knees, and Link ran over, dropping down next to him. "Knil, are you alright?"

" _I will hunt you down, and kill you for disobeying me."_

"Link, what's going on?" A new voice seemed to echo in the area, but Knil didn't see, nor care who it was. All he could make out was someone else kneeling in front of him, when Link acknowledged her. A soft hand touched his temple, and a bright light flooded his vision, soon fading into darkness.

" _You are mine. Never forget that."_

xXx

They had brought Knil to what was like an infirmary inside the castle. There were a total of six beds, each looking as though they themselves were fit for royalty.

Link was sitting on the bed, watching over his shadow. "What happened to him?"

"Although he is gone, Ganondorf's influence still holds within the people." Zelda stated, making her way over, holding a bowl of cold water. She dipped the rag in, and ran it over Knil's face. "His energy is still strong, in the area, even I still feel uneasy." Her eyes fell into an almost pitying gleam on Knil. "Your friend must have a very strong connection to him."

Link felt sadder, brushing Knil's bangs from his face. "Far stronger than I realized."

Zelda smiled timidly at Link, sliding his hat from his head. "You look tired." She ran her other hand over his cheek. "You should probably get some rest, as well. We can discuss our business once you two have fully recovered."

Link gave one last look to his shadow, and stood up. "Alright." He felt really uneasy about the situation, wondering if he should just take Knil out of here, and talk to Zelda on his own.

"So, you said he's a part of you?"

Link glanced back to see Zelda was now staring at Knil with an odd crease between her brow. "More or less, yes."

The princess gave a thoughtful hum, leaning over him. A hand traced over Knil's face, as if taking in his features very carefully. "So he's your polar opposite. Your dark side... a shadow." Her voice started to trail off in thought.

Having settled into the bed, Link watched her, a bit unsure as to why she was so on edge. "He's not as bad as all that." His arms curled around his knees, gripping onto the covers. "Knil really came through for me." His eyes shifted down to Navi, who had floated up to perch on his knees. "I might not even be here, if it weren't for him."

As if pulling herself from her contemplation, Zelda tore her eyes away, and smiled over towards Link. "Oh no, I didn't mean anything by it. I was simply making an observation." She started from the room, waving a hand back towards him. "Sleep well, Link."

"Yea, sure." Link responded, though there was still a note of unease in his tone. A short while of silence, and he glanced over at the dark faerie. Ivan was standing on the pillow, next to Knil's head, seemingly glaring through the door to Zelda.

"Is he going to be ok?"

Ivan finally snapped out of whatever was holding her gaze, and turned to look at him. Her wings lifted her a couple inches from the pillow, so that she could see her master's face straight on. "He should be." She drifted back down, and nestled into the crook of his neck, whispering softly, to herself. "At least I hope so."

 


	2. Chapter 2

Knil was sitting, under the tree, trying to keep dry on the mound of dirt, as he sharpened his sword. He kicked his feet idly in the water, somewhat enjoying the small splashes his boots made as he hummed jovially to himself. The black bladed Master Sword had become incredibly sharp, in his brief time there, considering that was about all he could do with it. He had tried training, but his small stature made the sword very heavy, and unable to wield – at least for now.

The upbeat mood was suddenly broken when the door opened. A large, broad shouldered man, with green skin and flaming red hair entered the expansive room. His cloak skimmed the top of the water, the large boots splashing threateningly. It wasn't so much the imposing force, but something told him this man was important. He seemed somewhat familiar, but Knil could not think of where he had seen him before. The man stopped, staring down at the young boy. "Do you know when he will awaken?" He asked, as though he should know who he meant.

Knil just stared up at him in confusion. When he didn't answer, the man stepped closer. That simple movement held a lot more threat than it should have. As though he had yelled, and Knil scurried to his feet, dropping the sword. "I-I-I don't know wh-who you m-mean."

A brief moment of silence passed, where he thought this new man would be angry, but it didn't last long. He smiled what he must have thought was a warm smile, but there was more threat behind that than the step. "You do not feel him?" Slowly, he crept closer, seeming to grow in size as he did so. "You can't sense that side of yourself?"

"I-I don't know who you-"

"DON'T BACK AWAY FROM ME!"

Knil recoiled against the outburst, but stayed where he was, keeping his head down. He was quiet for a bit, then began timidly, "Per-perhaps you can tell me... who you are?"

The longer he was quiet, the more the tension grew between the two. There was a small splash, drawing his attention to see this large man had moved forward. Knil jumped, seeing him kneel in front of him, taking the young boy's chin gently in his hands. "You do not remember me?"

Knil was shaking, staring wide eyed at this man being so close. "I-I'm afraid not, s-sir."

Those bright golden eyes were gleaming darkly at him, contradicting the smile on his lips. "My name is Ganondorf. I created you, my dear boy. I am your master. Do you understand?"

Knil swallowed a lump in his throat, and nodded. At least as much as he could with his head being captive. "Yes, sir."

"You were made to serve me. To do as I wish... and I wish for you... to kill Link."

"Wh-who's Lin-"

"This, so called, hero." Ganon snarled, squeezing his face tighter. "The one that's supposed to kill me. You're not going to let him do that, now are you?" The grip tightened to a point where Knil felt his feet wanting to leave the ground. "N-n-no of-of course n-not."

A brief pause and Ganon laughed again. "Good." He dropped him, and Knil fell to his knees coughing in order to try and restore his breath.

Ganondorf stood up straight, looming over the small child. "If this boy thinks he can defeat me, he's sorely mistaken." A smile crept onto his face, causing his eyes to gleam at him again. "I have numerous road blocks set up against him, but you are my golden child." His hands gripped Knil's shoulders, pulling him to his feet. "You are made from a part of that retched child, and so you should be able to destroy him." A large hand came up to cup his cheek in an almost tender motion. "You are to remain here, until that time, and for your loyalty, you will be freed upon his death. Once he is dead, you will take his place. Then, you shall serve by my side."

Ganon stood, and started off. "Until then, you will wait here, for his arrival." With a wide sweep of his cloak, Ganon turned and started towards the door.

"You already seem so strong." Knil began softly, staring at his hands. "Why do you need me?"

Ganondorf froze. His eyes narrowed, shifting back towards him. "What was that?"

Knil's head snapped up to look at him. He was still shaking, his eyes wide, but he spoke louder. It was an honest question. There couldn't be anything wrong with asking. "I was just wondering, why you couldn't just kill him yourself. You see strong enough."

Knil just missed the subtle twitch in his master's eyes. "I do not need to waste my energy on that boy."

There was an odd glint. A fleeting almost uncertainty that made Knil very curious towards the intention behind these actions. This was also before he learned better. "Are you scared of him?"

A sudden rage echoed in his gaze, and Knil felt his energy whip around him like an intense wind. A hand snapped around his neck, slamming him against the tree.

The impact forced the blonde Hylian to sit up sharply, in his bed. He screamed, heaving with fear. _"Know this! I'm not afraid of anything. That little brat simply isn't worth my time. You got that!?"_

Link brushed his sweaty bangs, trying to catch his breath. Navi jumped, fluttering upward when he awakened. "What's wrong?"

"I-I'm not sure." Link panted. His eyes closed in exhaustion. "Just a nightmare... I think." He looked up, over towards where Knil was seemingly asleep in the opposite bed. "Or a memory." Still shaking, from the dream, Link made his way over and sat on Knil's bed. Knil was whimpering in his sleep, and let out an agonized sigh. "Knil?" He began softly, brushing a hand through his hair. Knil turned his head away from him, as if he couldn't stand to be touched. "Maybe it was my fault." Link leaned over his shadow, feeling his eyes start to tear. "I'm so sorry."

xXx

Not being able to sleep anymore, Link started exploring the castle. He hadn't actually been inside much, and found this to be a good opportunity to take full advantage of it. Apparently he had slept longer than he thought, because everything, outside of the windows was pitch black. Link made his way out onto the balcony of one of the upper levels. The cold air soothed the dull ache in his head, as he stepped out. Link sighed, dropping to his knees, elbows resting against the railing. He found he was still shaking, and short of breath, running his hands through his hair.

The small blue light drifted slowly closer, and landed on the railing next to her partner. She laid a hand on his arm. "Was it that bad?"

With a miserable sigh, Link turned his eyes up towards the direction of Lake Hylia. "I guess I just never really thought too much about it before. I knew Knil was trapped in there for so long, but I never gave much thought into what else could have happened. I didn't even stop to think about what all Ganondorf could have done to him."

Navi swung her legs over the side of the railing. She stared down at her feet as they kicked back and forth. "I just figured he made him, and left him in there."

"Either way, being stuck in there alone seems like torture in itself."

"But he wasn't alone." Navi looked up at him expectantly. "Ivan was there with him."

Link's brows furrowed in thought. "I'm not sure." He tried to remember the details of his dream. "I don't remember seeing her there." He shrugged. "Then again, I suppose I was a bit distracted."

"But, I don't get it." Navi began, her face scrunching in confusion. "Why wouldn't she be there?"

"I wasn't there, because Ganondorf didn't create me." Link turned around to see Ivan was fluttering in the doorway.

"What do you mean?"

The red-violet faerie sighed, seeming to turn a bit blue as she slowly made her way over. Ivan perched on the railing, staring off towards the lake as well. "Ganondorf didn't create me, because he didn't need me." She drew her knees up, hugging them against her chest, gently drifting down until she was sitting.

Link's head came up in earnest. A knot settled in his stomach, remembering how lonely and isolated he felt before Navi came to him. Course he was never supposed to have a faerie, but that was beside the point. "If Ganondorf didn't create you-" He began, feeling he already knew the answer. "then where did you come from?"

Ivan sighed, a tear sparking in her eye. She was quiet for a while, but when she finally spoke, her voice was light and timid. "Ganondorf would leave him alone for long stretches of time, and even when he did come, it was to release some kind of rage, and to test how strong he was." She sniffed, brushing her eyes.

Link watched her for a bit, asking softly, "Do I want to know how he tested that?"

Ivan looked over at him, tears tracing down her cheek. Her bottom lip quivered as she talked. "Let's just say, it's a good thing I knew how to heal."

Link's face drained in shock and guilt. His mind still swam with his dream, and knew the main reason Ganon had to be angry was because of him. Navi drifted over to her shadow, and slid an arm around her shoulder.

There was a brief silence, before she spoke again. "I don't really know much about how I came to be, but he says I was born from loneliness. His desire to at least have someone there to keep him company. To motivate him to actually get out alive." She paused, brushing her eyes with a soft sniff. "Instead of trying to find another means of escape."

Link's heart constricted. Did she mean what he thought she meant? Would Knil really have done that?

Her face slid into her knees. "Ganon was so angry, when he found out about me. I had to watch him torture my new friend, until he finally figured it was a genius idea." Ivan gave a small sarcastic snort. "He figured, since you had Navi, then maybe it was a good idea for him to have me. Perhaps it would make him strong enough."

Link groaned, raking his hand through his hair as his forehead dropped onto the railing. "That..." He tried to find the right words, but nothing came to mind. Evil, monster, tyrant... none of these seemed to fit anymore.

"As long as he was ruling and happy, Ganondorf never dropped by. Only when he was angry. Only when a plan fell through, or he failed to kill you, or to find Zelda." Ivan held the same bitterness at saying her name as Knil did. "For so long." Her voice picked up at bit, but her sobs were prominent as well. "For so long I had to sit back helplessly as he took out his rage on Knil. All the horrible things he did to him. Because of you." She snapped, her head popping up, causing Navi to fall back. Her breath hitched, and her eyes glared, but she couldn't bare to look at Link. "For so long, Ganon took out his rage on Knil, just because he couldn't get to you. Just because you wouldn't die." Her expression fell again, and soon she had dissolved into Navi's arms and cried. "I hated you so much. I knew that if you would just die, then he would be ok. All of this suffering would stop, and he could finally be free. So many times I wished for your death. Even when we were out, and Ganondorf was gone, I knew – we knew that he would be back. He's too powerful to just disappear like that. Knil was still haunted by him, and when he came back, he would want you dead. So you should be dead, by the time he returned." Her voice had quieted to a small whisper, to where only Navi could really hear her. "So long I hated you." Even though she was partially raging against her best friend, Navi stroked the distraught faerie's hair, shushing her softly. "Even now, it's hard for me to not see you as the enemy. I don't know how Knil does it." She sobbed. "I don't hate you, but I feel like I should. It's so confusing. I don't know what to think anymore." She trailed off into low mumbles that no one could really hear anymore. Something about her rage and hate, but Navi was trying to ignore what she was saying to just comfort her... until a low moan drew her attention behind her.

Link had crumpled to his knees, clinging one-handed to the railing, as though he might pass out if he let go. His eyes were clenched tight, though somehow tears were flooding from them. His other hand clenched over his heart. He was breathing funny, and making an odd noise like he was trying to suppress the urge to scream.

"Link!?" Navi gasped, completely forgetting about her shadow, and flew over to him. "Link, what's wrong?"

Link could definitely feel Ganondorf's influence still holding over this place, when he arrived, but now it suddenly felt a lot stronger. It was like a hand had reached into his chest and was squeezing his heart. Growing tighter until he felt like he couldn't breath. Perhaps stopping him from screaming, even if he wanted to.

The subtle hint of water reached his senses, as something splashed towards him. Link felt himself look up, gasping for breath. He was there. In the temple. Ganon was standing over him with a broad grin of triumph plastered on his face. "Finally." He voice echoed and curled around like a thick fog, paralyzing his movements. Ganondorf's hands extended, flexing his fingers threateningly.

"Link?"

Lightning flashed in Link's mind as the hands snapped around his throat, pinning him to the tree. His hands came up to claw at the hands cutting off what little breath he had left. "You have failed me." Ganon growled, confusing Link as to what he actually meant. "I will kill you with my own hands, you worthless double." He shook him a bit, slamming his head repeatedly into the tree. "Maybe if I kill you, he will finally die."

"LINK!" Navi cried, fluttering frantically around her partner. Link had fallen flat onto his back, his hands hanging in the air. Shaking. As if he had no control over them. He was struggling to breath, his lips tinging a pale blue. Navi's eyes swam with tears. "Link! Wake up! Ivan!" She cried, turning to her shadow. "Go get Zelda!"

But Ivan was frozen to the spot, watching Link with an odd mix of curiosity and excitement. Navi didn't have time to be angry with her. She sped off through the castle in search of the princess. Zelda was fast asleep, by the time she found her, but she woke up quickly. She called to her guards, and rushed from her room, tying a robe over her night gown.

"Link!" Zelda fell to her knees next to him, and laid a hand on his forehead. There was a small spark of her magic, but nothing happened. Link continued to gasp for breath, his body shaking.

Navi flitted around her shoulder frantically. "What's going on? What happened?"

Zelda shook her head. "I-I'm not sure." She tried to examine him, her brow furrowing in confusion. "There does not appear to be anything wrong with him." Zelda stroked his hair gently, trying to make some sense of this situation. Something clicked together in her brain, and she stood. "Keep watch over him." She ordered her guards, and took off through the corridors.

Zelda rushed into the room where Knil was still resting. At least he was supposed to be resting. He was moaning loud enough to where it could almost be a scream. His body convulsing on the bed. Ivan hung back in the doorway, but Navi fluttered around Zelda's head, watching the princess curiously. Zelda laid her finger tips against Knil's forehead, and pressed. Her fingers sparked with the blue magic again. Soon Knil's moans shifted into deep heavy breaths, finally fading off until he lay completely still. The only movements being the gentle rise and fall of his deep breathing.

Zelda glanced up at Navi, who seemed to suddenly understand, and took off, calling to her partner. Zelda followed close behind. Ivan watched their retreating backs, her eyes narrowing. She drifted over to Knil's side, and settled on the pillow. A sudden fear washed over her. For a second there she was happy. Maybe, deep down, she did still want Link to die

xXx

Zelda dropped down next to Link again, and heaved a sigh of relief. His breath was raged, but at least he was breathing again. "Link. Can you look at me? Are you ok?"

Link's eyes fluttered weakly. He opened his mouth to try and speak, the half opened eyes glazed over. He moaned softly, what sounded like he was calling out to his shadow, before falling under again.

Everyone else sat in silent confusion. One of the guards stepped up. "Your Majesty?"

Zelda shook her head, and stood, dusting off her robe. "Return him to his room."

The guards nodded their affirmation, and carried Link back to his designated room. Upon entering the room, Link groaned again. Knil whimpered, his head falling towards Link, drawing Zelda's attention. An arm extending from the bed. She turned back to see Link was doing the same from his resting place. They were definitely too far to actually reach each other, but that didn't stop them from trying.

One of the guards stepped up to Zelda. "May I ask what this is all about, Your Majesty?"

Zelda's eyes narrowed sharply. "No you may not." She waved a hand over the two guards, making the air ripple around them. "You two have seen nothing. You know nothing of these circumstances."

The guards nodded slowly, their eyes hazed over.

"Return to your posts. I shall be back shortly."

Without another response, they saluted their princess, and marched from the room.

Once they were gone, Zelda slumped onto Link's bed, with a deep sigh.

Ivan settled in next to Knil, eying her in near terror. What had she done to them? Navi, on the other hand, must have seen her do this before because she floated right up to her. "I'd like to know what's going on, too."

Zelda shook her head. "I can not be exactly certain, but evidently, Link's connections to his shadow are a lot stronger than I thought." She glanced up to Navi. "Has it always been like this?"

Navi shook her head fervently, her heart still racing from the recent events. "No. I've never seen anything like this happen before."

Ivan snorted.

"Then this must be a new development." The princess stared down at Link, her face scrunching in confusion. "Has anything happened recently?"

"Well." Navi drifted down to sit on the pillow, next to Link's head. "That's actually what we came here to talk to you about." She glanced over at Link, wondering if it was right to tell Zelda with him still unconscious. "There's been some problems lately, and we were hoping you could help."

Zelda could tell Navi was nervous about telling her, but she still asked. "What happened?"

Navi shook her head, still mulling over the situation. "I don't know if I should say." Her gaze dropped down to her partner, stroking his forehead. "We've run into some problems recently, but I'm not entirely sure what Link wanted to talk to you about." It was only a partial lie. She knew about what they wanted to discuss, but doubted Link wanted Zelda to know every detail. Even still, Navi felt bad for hiding things from her. She sighed, and settled further into the pillow. Diverting her attention fully towards the blonde Hylian as he mumbled in his sleep – along with his shadow.

Zelda's fingers traced along the bruises lining Link's neck, her gaze fading off into contemplation. Evidently Link had forged a very strong bond with his shadow. To what seemed like an almost dangerous extent. "You say this has never happened before?" The question was directed to Navi, but her eyes didn't leave Link's face.

Navi looked up at her, unsure. Her lips moved as if to speak, then she shook her head slowly. "I think so." She glance back down at Link. "I mean, this is the first time I've seen him collapse like this."

Zelda's brows lowered further, eyes shifting over towards Navi. "So this is the first circumstance of the shadow effecting him?"

Ivan scowled at the princess with the derogatory term for her master.

Navi just wracked her brain to remember. "I know they've seemed to be getting closer, but that shouldn't effect him like this."

"There is a chance."

The look of confusion deepened on the little faerie's face. "So you're saying Link's feeling Knil's pain because they bonded?"

"It is possible."

"... I call bullshit."

Zelda smiled as though she wanted to laugh, but her mind was still worrying too much to let her. "They were already a part of each other once. So, perhaps, becoming friends has triggered their bond to strengthen."

They heard Ivan snort from across the room. Her arms folded across her chest, sinking into the crook of Knil's neck.

Zelda cast the skeptical faerie a snide smirk. "I will admit there is some illogic to this theory." She turned back to Link. "I've never known any kind of connection to be strong enough to effect the other physically, in this manner." Her eyes narrowed on some far off answer. "Though, it would make sense for the shadow to be effected more than Link."

Considering she used that term again, Ivan was already annoyed. So her anger, as she slammed her fists into the pillow, might have been a bit over the top. "What the hell do you mean by that!? How does it make sense for my master to suffer more than him!?" She thrust a finger towards Link.

"Well, he came from Link." Zelda answered calmly. "He is merely a smaller fragment of Link's soul. If Link is hurt, then it only makes sense his shadow-"

"He has a name!" Ivan snapped. However, she huffed again and didn't care to elaborate.

Zelda glanced back down at Navi, who shrugged. "Link wanted him to have his own name." She answered softly. For some reason afraid to let Ivan hear. "Knil."

Despite herself Zelda smirked again. The all too cruel irony of him name not lost on her. "Ok then. It only makes sense for Knil-" She put special emphasis on his name. Not in an arrogant sort of tone, but more to try and say she knew – even if that's not how Ivan took it. "to be feeling whatever Link experiences, since it directly effects his state of being. However, Link was not made from any part of Knil, so he would not necessarily share this affliction."

"Well, obviously, he is." Navi interjected, with a small whine. "Link is feeling whatever Knil is, in his dreams, and I want to know why."

Drawing in a deep sigh, Zelda brought a hand to her lips. "Perhaps Knil's bond has grown strong enough to effect Link." She paused briefly, for thought, gnawing on her bottom lip. "Besides them bonding, has anything happened recently to possibly strengthen this connection?"

"Well... um." Navi shifted uncomfortably. They were back to the conundrum of what Zelda should know. Is knowing all the details crucial for helping Link? "K-kinda..."

"I was hurt." Both of their attentions were drawn to hearing Link's raspy voice. "Badly." He cleared his throat to try and fix his voice. "And Knil almost died."

Zelda slid closer, one hand taking his, the other resting on his head. Her concern evident. "What happened? How were you hurt?" Link noted the panic in her voice and smiled. He didn't like to worry her, but was glad to see she was so concerned. Then again, maybe it was a good thing he decided to leave out that these attempts turned out to be fatal. In response to her inquiry, Link nodded. "A new friend of mine healed me. Which also helped Knil." His eyes gently closed again, taking a deep exhausted breath. "Which is actually why we're here?" He shifted uncomfortably, bringing a hand to the vein pulsing in his head. "I needed to know how much you knew of the Spiritual Stone of Light."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: yes, Zelda totally used the Jedi mind trick on her guards. Why?... I dunno, seemed appropriate. So, I was a bit sad that I haven't updated this in a while, and cracked down on the set-up. (ugh... set-up) Although, I'm happy I got through this, and I'm pretty sure you are as well. (The patient few who still put up with my long ass waiting periods.) I feel like I'm walking a delicate line of holy shit and bull shit, so I've had to rewrite this chapt many times. (Also i was whipping out Zombie chapts so fast that I was feelin my writing slipping, and figured I needed a break.)


	3. Chapter 3

Zelda leaned against the bookshelf, riffling through the book in her hand. Link was still very worn, and was resting before they actually sat down to discuss the full situation. In the meantime, Zelda was reading up on the subject of the Stone of Light. Sure, she did know some things about it, but her knowledge was a tad more limited than that of the other three. Stacks of books littered the tables in her search for the right one. So far, her research led to some interesting results, and she became concerned for why Link needed to come to her. Soon, she slumped into one of the chairs around the table, dropping her head into her hands.

"Have you gotten any sleep?"

Zelda looked up to see Link pull out a nearby chair and sit down. She smiled, laying out the book with the others. "Some. I woke up early to do some research. How are you feeling?"

"I'm alright." Link's eyes fell to his folded hands on the table. "I'm not so sure about Knil though."

Zelda's brow lowered lightly. "You really care for him, don't you?"

"Well, yea. We're connected. He's like my brother." Link smirked. "I mean, he was made from a part of me. How could I not care for him?"

"The dark part of you." Zelda stated, almost as if she didn't mean to say it out loud.

Link's smirk faded. "Now, hold on, Zelda. Sure, we had a rocky start, but he saved my life."

"No, no. I apologize. I'm just a tad weary of something Ganondorf created. Maybe I just need to get to know him." Zelda grasped the book she had just laid down. "Concerning the Stone of Light, I believe I found something that may be of help to you." She flipped the book open and slid it around in front of Link.

He scanned the page, eyes landing on a diagram of what looked like two shining orbs. One white and the other a dark violet. The wording below it read 'Every light has a shadow. For every life, death awaits. Neither can exist without the other, and so both shall either die, or live forever.' Link's brow furrowed on the words. "I don't think I understand. Is this about Knil and me?"

"It sounds like it, does it not? However, this existed long before either of you." She pulled the book to the center of the table, and pointed to the white light. "The story around it describes a white stone having the ability to create and sustain life. I believe this to be the Spiritual Stone of Spirits."

"But what's this other one here?"

"Like it said, 'Light and Shadow are in a constant balance.'"

"So this is the Spiritual Stone of Shadow."

"Shadow, darkness, death. It has many names. Just like its counter part. Now." Zelda snapped the book closed, and lowered her eyes on Link. "Now, are you going to tell me the full story, or not."

"Uh." Link was a bit caught off guard by her sudden seriousness.

"I just want to know why this stone is so important to you." Her eyes skimmed the cover of the book, tracing her fingers along the gold embroidery. "The Stone of Spirits can be used to sustain life, but in severe cases can even restore life." Her gaze flicked back up at Link. "You stated that you were hurt, badly." Zelda's hands steepled in front of her, resting her chin on her thumbs. "After my research, I'm starting to wonder if it wasn't something more."

Links face began to flush. He should have known Zelda would be suspicious. She was very wise, after all, and a good judge of character and motive. After all, she suspected Ganondorf of wicked intent when she was only ten. When no one else would believe her. "Well, I just didn't want to concern you."

"Link." Zelda's expression softened, laying a hand atop of his. "I'm always concerned for you, with the situations you always find yourself in." She squeezed his hand gently. "Now, I can't help you if I don't know the full situation."

Link sighed, turning his hand over to grip her's. "Perceptive as always." He smiled sadly up at her, still unsure if he wanted to tell her, but knew he had to. "You're right, I wasn't just hurt. It was far worse than that." Link spilled the whole story about the Gerudo, and Luith, and his underground village, in the desert. About what they went through. How he died, and Luith brought him back to life with the Spiritual Stone. He even made sure to mention how Knil had left, but came back when he sensed he needed help. Navi had joined them at one point and was seated on Link's shoulder. He stared down at his hands, laced against the table. "Because of this, Luith said that I had to stay there. I could possible leave, but eventually-"

"Prolonged absence from the stone would eventually kill you." Zelda finished, as Link had started to trail off. Link glanced up at her, trying to read her expression, then nodded. "Yes."

They were both silent, for a time. Zelda started slowly flipping through the books again. "That certainly is a problem. So, when you died... did Knil die as well?"

Link thought for a moment, then shook his head. "I don't believe so. It's more like he went comatose."

Zelda had been scribbling some notes here and there. She lifted her quil, and pointed to the blue faerie on his shoulder. "And, are Navi and her counter part connected?"

Link glanced up at Navi. She shrugged. "I don't know. I don't think so. We've never really had a circumstance of that, to know."

Zelda tapped the long golden feather to her chin, in thought. She was starting to wonder if maybe Link's death was what had strengthened the physical bond, between the two, but she was still unsure. Course, it could be possible that the connection was always there, and Link's body was just weaker now, from his recent resurrection.

"So, do you know of something I might be able to do? I don't want to have to head back to Biloba Village, every so often, just to stay alive. That's just as bad as being stuck there."

"Understandable." Zelda continued to rifle through the books, searching for possibly a common situation, or perhaps a hint of a solution for this problem. "I could possibly create for you a light charm. Perhaps examine the stone for some kind of solution."

"I could escort you to the village, if you like. I'm sure Luith would like to meet you."

Zelda shook her head. "Perhaps, but first I would like to consult with the sages."

Link's brow furrowed. "You can still do that?"

Zelda smirked. "I have my ways into the Sacred Realm." Her smile faded lightly."

Link didn't like that idea. "Wait a minute. That's where you imprisoned Ganondorf. Should you really be going there."

She shook her head. "He's sealed in a smaller prison in the Sacred Realm. Unless I seek him out, he won't even know I was there."

"But, if you can get in, can he get out?"

"Ganondorf is physically sealed. Body and soul. I won't be physically traveling there. It's more like a state of meditation. My body will be in the Temple of Time."

"Oh." Link relaxed a touch. "Well, should I be there to protect your body?"

She shook her head again. "I can create a barrier to protect me. I have another assignment in mind for you, and you will need to conserve your strength."

"Huh? Like what?"

Zelda spun the book, and pointed to the violet light. "I want you to see if you can find this."

Link scanned over the page, a puzzled expression contorting his face. "The Spiritual Stone of Shadow What for?"

"If the Spiritual Stone of Spirits is powerful enough to sustain life that well, within the desert, then I'd hate to think of what something like this could be in the wrong hands."

Link's eyes lowered, unsure. "I've wondered about that my own self, but is it really safe to go searching for this thing. It's very possible, just being in its presence could kill people."

"I don't think so." Zelda leaned forward and skimmed the page. "You've already come in close proximity to the stone." She found what she was looking for, and pointed. "If so, then you'd already be dead."

Link glanced down to where she indicated. "Sheikan Amethyst. It was placed in the care of the Sheikah?"

"It was, and its location is said to be in the Shadow Temple."

Understanding lit up Link's face. "That would explain why things there were so dreary, but what if I just didn't get close enough, when I was last there? Perhaps the range just isn't as expansive."

"I will consult with Impa, before you head off. For now, You should rest." Zelda closed the book and started off. "Perhaps your friend could help you. After all, he is connected to the darkness."

xXx

Zelda departed immediately for the Temple of Time. She didn't want to waste any time, especially with her hero's condition. Link made his way back towards his room. He really hated letting Zelda go off on her own, but she had proven she was able to take care of herself. She had managed to avoid Ganondorf for seven years. Surely she could survive a trip to the Temple of Time alone. Link walked into his room, intending to follow his princess' advice and get some more rest, but was halted upon entering at the sight that was waiting for him. Or rather what wasn't waiting for him. "Knil?"

Navi flitted off his shoulder, and flew over. Link was in a deadlock with the empty bed. Where was he? He walked slowly towards the bed, and saw the wooden ocarina sitting on the pillow, and the blue tunic tossed carelessly across the bed.

"That jerk." Navi growled. "Who does he think he is, running off like that?"

"Apparently, there's nothing holding him here." Link sat down on the bed, taking the tunic in his hands. "It must be hard to stay here, anyway, with Ganondorf's presence being so strong. Was he still here, when you left him?"

"Sound asleep, last I saw." Navi flew up in front of Link's face. "That means he can't have gotten far. Maybe we can still catch him."

Link thought briefly about this option. Should he go after him? "I don't want to pin him down. He has no connection to this problem."

"What? How is he not connected to this problem?" Navi scoffed, indignantly. "If something happens to you, then he's going to-"

"-Stop it, Navi. That's just as bad as saying I needed to stay in Biloba. I don't want to trap him with me." Link's eyes gently closed, twisting the blue fabric in his hands. "He's been through enough of that."

"But." Navi deflated. "I thought you were friends."

Link got to his feet with a deep sigh, and made his way around to the window. "I thought so too." A quick scan of the grounds and Link spotted a black figure sneaking around the guards. Well, not so much around, as it was sneaking up to and knocking them out. Knil certainly did have his own way of doing things. It's not like they would stop him from leaving. Link sighed out a smile. "I must be out of my mind." He spun around and started out to follow.

Link didn't have as much trouble getting past the guards, although they weren't too happy with the implication of Link bringing their attacker back. He caught up to him on the road towards Castle Town. "What? You're just going to leave without saying good-bye again?"

Knil gripped his sword, and swung it around towards Link, who had to fall back to avoid getting hit. He still looked rather worn, and was breathing fairly hard. "Stay away from me."

"Hang on, Knil." Link held up a hand of surrender. "I just wanted to make sure you were ok." He slowly got to his feet, still holding up his hands. "You've been through a lot recently."

"Yea, right." Knil sneered. "Like you give a damn about what happens to me."

"What are you talking about? Of course I care about you."

"All you care about is whether I'm around to help you." Knil backed away, holding his sword out straight towards him. His legs shook under him, looking as though they wanted to give out. "All you've done is manipulate me, from day one, and like an idiot I fell for it."

"Knil, what are you talking about? I just wanted to be your friend." Link tried to approach slowly, still holding his hands in surrender. "I never meant for you to feel like I tricked you."

"Tshh. Sure you didn't. Like you don't know how you effect people."

"Apparently I don't." Link's whole demeanor slowly deflated. How could he have made Knil this angry, again? No. This was ridiculous. Knil was just paranoid. "If I did anything to manipulate you, believe me, I had no ill intentions." Link made a movement to try and close the gap. "All I wanted was for you to be able to trust me. For us to work together, but I guess you're too stubborn for that."

Knil was left dumb by the sudden annoyance in his lighter sides' expression, but even more so when it faded away.

"No... I guess stubborn isn't the right word. Perhaps broken. Or at least wounded. All I want is to help you."

"What the hell are you talking about? Don't turn this back on me. I'm not the one who needs help. I was doing just fine until I came across you again."

"But you sought me out. Why do you think that is?"

"Because I wanted to kill you."

"Yes, but you don't now."

"Maybe I do." Knil snapped, taking another swing at him. Link slid out of the way, barely avoiding the sharp blade. "Maybe I do still want you dead, but I can't kill you anymore. You made it so. You've completely blinded me of my true objective. My only desire is to obtain your head, and I can't even fulfill my purpose anymore."

"Knil." Link spoke softly, but the plea fell on deaf ears.

"You've completely made me lose sight of my true goal. You've used me for your own well being. For your own purpose. Not mine. Not once have you helped me accomplish what I wanted to do."

"I couldn't just let you kill me."

"And you've cemented that one, haven't you."

"Nothing about you is my fault. I didn't make you this way."

"You've been using me, from the start. Since you found out you couldn't handle that Oasis on your own, you decided that I should help."

"I only just-"

"You manipulated me from the very moment I left that cell, so that I could do whatever you wanted me to do." It was hard to tell, through his already rage induced flush, but Knil's eyes were starting to tear. He loomed over Link, the tip of the sword inching closer to his throat. "I wanted to leave, but I had to come back, just like you wanted me to. Why would I do such a thing? Why would I even care? It's because of you." He drew back and thrust the sword into Link's side, on the last word. Not caring for the pain to prick his own skin. Even now their bond seemed to be strengthening and it just made him angrier. "It's all because of you, and your bullshit nice guy act. I'm not you, and I want to have my own life. I'm tired of being used, by scum like you." He swung again, but Link smacked it away with the back of his hand. It cut through the glove, but it was enough for him to move in on his apparent opponent. Punching Knil square in the left cheekbone.

"I am not Ganondorf!" He cried, surprised even by his own actions. It may not have been a good idea to hit him, but somehow – he wasn't sorry.

Knil stayed on the ground, holding a hand to his sore face. His dark hair shading his eyes.

"I'm not the one who created you. He is. I'm not the one who put this undying hatred for me, in your heart. He is. He's the one to blame for all your problems. All the pain and suffering you've gone through. I hate that you had to endure all that, but I did not cause it, no matter what ideas he may have implemented into your head. I can't be blamed for what he did to you, on account of me, when my only crime was trying to stay alive." Link drew in a deep breath, trying to steady himself. He turned his gaze away, not wishing for Knil to see the tears forming in his eyes as well. "Yes. Maybe, to some extent, I did manipulate you, but I won't apologize for trying to help you better yourself. For trying to be your friend." He made his way over and picked up Knil's sword. "All I want to do is help you forget about the pain he's put you through, but I can't do that if you don't let me in. I know it's strange, given our history, but I feel like your the only one I can really count on. The only one who can understand my struggle." Link brushed his eyes, still not able to look at Knil. "You're the only thing Ganon did right."

Knil's gaze shot up at him at the confession. His face drained into shock. "The only thing he did right? I don't understand. I'm nothing. I was born from darkness, and decay." He started to rise to his feet, only able to get as far up as his weak legs would let him, but his eyes were set in a glare. "How can I be right? I'm not even supposed to exist. Not so long as you do."

"But you do exist." Link responded, calmly. "You exist, and so do I." He smiled. "That can't be a mistake. It's like you're the brother I never knew I could have."

Knil deflated. "Your... brother?" He knew he said that once, without even really thinking about what he said, but he had no idea Link actually thought the same way. Knil smirked, shaking his head. "You really are an idiot."

"Yea... I know." Link sighed. "It seems I have another mission coming up, to figure out my own fate. You're welcome to come along, but-" He stabbed the black Master Sword into the dirt, next to Knil. "you're free to decline."

Link started off, back towards the castle. Knil pushed himself up with the blade, sheathing his sword. "Like I really have the option of saying no." He leaned heavily against the rocks, but otherwise standing. "I can't let you die, remember. I have to help you, or else I'm screwed."

"But." Link turned around to see his shadow smiling.

"I mean, it's not like you can handle things on your own, can you?"

Link's first thought was to point out that he fought his way through six... nine dungeons, and defeated Ganondorf all on his own. (Even if the sages were the ones to lock him away.) Instead he just returned the smile. "I guess I can't."

"Just know that this doesn't change anything."

Link rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say."

Ivan, who was sitting on a rock on the face of the cliff, instantly burst into tears. She was so confused, and didn't know what to think anymore. Navi drifted over, and laid an arm around he shoulder. "It'll be alright. I know it's frustrating, but boys are just strange."

Knil shook his head at the hysterical faerie. "So, hey. I think I'm going to use you now." He groaned, falling back to his knees. He had thought he was able to move, but the last of his effort was lost in standing.

"Knil!" Link gasped, and rushed over.

"Get me the hell away from this damn castle."

xXx

Zelda quickly dawned her Sheik outfit to sneak past the guards standing in her way. If any of them knew she was leaving, they would insist on going with her. This was something she couldn't allow. Not knowing how much time her hero had left, she needed to be quick with her next actions, and the guards would only slow her down.

She slipped through the town, into the Temple of Time and back to where the Master Sword once laid to rest. This was the best contact point to the Sacred Realm, and hopefully she could contact Impa for advice on the Spiritual Stone of Shadows.

Zelda secured a barrier around her. Not that she thought she needed it, but better safe than sorry. She sat in the center of the stone slab, and proceeded to meditate on her problem. A great warmth surrounded her, enveloping her body. When next she opened her eyes, it was to the soft bluish glow of the Sacred Realm. She stood, the veil of a long white gown drifting past her ankles. Off, in the distance, was the silhouette of the Temple of Light. Well, as much of a silhouette as a bright white temple could obtain. Somewhere beyond that must have been Ganondorf's prison. Hopefully she was right in assuming he would not be able to sense her presence.

"I have heard your inquiries, and have come to your aid, your Majesty."

Zelda spun around to see Impa and Nabooru had materialized behind her. The last wisps of violet and orange aura dissipating. "Impa." Zelda beamed, throwing her arms around her former attendant. "It is good to see you again."

Impa returned the smile, resting a hand atop her head. "And you as well, Princess." She held her back to arms length. "Although, you seem troubled. Is Link really in such danger?"

Nabooru folded her arms, quirking a brow at her. "Yea. What has that boy gotten himself into this time?"

Zelda's smile faded. "I'm afraid so. It's strange to see it this way, but the Spiritual Stone of Spirit has cursed him with life. He'll die if we do not comprise a solution. I was hoping the Spiritual Stone of Shadow could help him."

Impa's eyes settled into a sage-like gaze. "Indeed the Stone of Death could help. With its power, the ways of life and death are constantly held in balance. Only the energy from the Spiritual Stone of Shadows could reverse the, as you say, curse of life enveloping our young hero. Unfortunately, it is difficult to control."

"The Stone of Life has strong abilities, but is typically spread over a much larger area. So, its power can take longer to effect something. Well. Under normal circumstances," Nabooru shook her head. "That boy certainly has a way of being the minority."

Impa nodded. "Indeed. On the other hand, the Stone of Death impacts a smaller radius with stronger energy. The closer you get to the stone, the more it can effect you. Aside from myself, only those whose souls are comprised of darkness can even come close enough to touch the stone. Let alone, use its power."

"Well, that's good then." Zelda exclaimed, confusing both Sages. "Link has his dark side with him. Maybe he can use it to help him."

Impa and Nabooru exchanged puzzled expressions. "Ah yes." Nabooru spoke up first. "This 'Shadow Link.' He's an interesting one?"

"From what I can gather, I'm not so sure about him." Impa responded. "He has a rather curious feel about his aura. Almost like it's familiar."

Zelda's eyes settled into a more serious gaze. "I don't know about familiar, but there is a certain oddness about him. I don't really trust him, but Link seems to. Either way, if we can get him to go along with this little crusade, I can use him to heal Link, then see what happens."

"If he is even at all useful, for long enough." Impa said, with an odd pondering glint in her eye.

"What do you mean?" Zelda inquired.

"Link may possibly be in more danger than we think. This shadow was never meant to even exist, and beings born from darkness are often unstable. Already, something in his being has started to break down, and Link has begun to suffer for it."

Zelda's face turned pale. "I don't understand. What do we do?"

Impa and Nabooru exchanged looks again, as though trying to come to some telepathic answer. "It's difficult to say, for now." Nabooru responded, still exchanging an unsure glance with her fellow Sage.

"Indeed." Impa agreed, finally tearing their gazes away. "You can proceed in finding the stone, just be careful. Let the Shadow do the real work, and make sure you or Link don't get too close. If you even start to feel weaker, get away from it. This stone can be very dangerous."

Zelda's gaze narrowed. "Is there something you're not telling me?"

Impa shook her head, placing her hands on Zelda's shoulders. "Nothing that should effect your current outcome. We merely have insufficient data on the shadow to determine his fate. You will be free to go about your current mission. I just warn you to be careful."

Zelda sighed. "I will."

"If you retrieve the stone, bring it to me. Then I should be able to obtain more answers."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Bdujhwgfuwhfujgajhk Good night everyone. No it's not actually night, but I'm still very tired, and Knil is being a pain in the ass. He's just making me think of Wreck it Ralph. "Just because you are a bad guy, does not mean you are a bad guy." Apparently Knil thinks this logic is bullshit. What an asshole.
> 
> There's a slight possibility that this chapt may go through a re-write, but eh... I do that with my stuff anyways. For future reference, if you read something and it doesn't make sense, then it's very possible I went back to edit something in the previous chapters. That, or I'm a derp and dropped a thread. Either way, feel free to ask me.


	4. Chapter 4

"So, why are we coming here?" Knil grunted, eyes narrowed on the sickeningly quaint little houses of Kakariko village, as he begrudgingly hung onto Link for support.

Link smirked. He really didn't know why he found his other side's constant complaining amusing. "Because it's close, and the Shadow Temple is nearby."

"How nearby?"

"In the graveyard right behind the village actually."

Knil paused, thinking on this a bit as they made their way along the street. "That's strange."

Link shrugged. "I guess they wanted it to be simple for the townsfolk to go in and worship."

"Who the hell worships in something called, 'The Shadow Temple'? I mean, it's a temple about death, right?"

"Well, some people think that death is more of a reason to celebrate that life. Something to do with the world being full of hatred and sorrow, and mourning that a new soul has to be born into this world."

"What?"

"Well the afterlife is said to be far more appealing than the life we have on this planet."

"But if someone's never born, then they can never die."

"It is a conundrum. I guess it all depends on your perspective of life and death."

Knil groaned. "And that's where I cut this conversation off."

"What, too deep for you?" Link laughed.

"I guess you could say that. More like my brain can't stand the boredom of a religious conversation."

Navi laughed, listlessly fluttering around them. "Or perhaps you aren't smart enough to come up with a compelling argument."

Knil scowled at the little faerie, growling deep in his throat. "Why you little-"

"Hey Navi." Link interjected, to try and diffuse the impending bomb, a bright smile on his face. "Why don't you head on back to the castle."

"Huh?" Navi's jaw dropped, glowing a red-violetish hue. "Why?"

"Well, Zelda should be getting back soon and is going to wonder where we went."

"Oh."

"Just tell her where we are and that we're working on a strategy to obtain the Spiritual Stone."

Navi drooped slightly. "I guess I can do that." Feeling a bit dismissed, she took off back towards the castle.

Knil scoffed. "We?"

"You did say you were coming." Link responded lightly, heading into one of the houses in the little square. The one that had formerly been Impa's home. Typically other Kakarikans had used it as they needed, for their own dwellings, or a meeting place, but it currently stood empty.

Knil snorted, pushing away from Link, as they entered the small house. His legs were still shaking, so he made his way over to one of the beds. That really needed to stop. He couldn't stand feeling so weak. "I'm only coming along to make sure you don't get your fool self killed."

Link smiled, cocking an eyebrow at his darker self, as he rummaged through his satchel. "That's very kind of you."

"I'm not doing it for you." Knil growled.

"Yes, yes, I know." Link pulled out a map and smoothed it flat on the small kitchen table. "Either way, I appreciate it."

Knil folded his arms scowling. Ivan flitted over and landed on his knee, staring unsure at her master. That glare in his eyes was awfully nostalgic, but there was something off. Almost like he couldn't decide what he hated anymore. He just seemed angry, for no reason. Or at least she couldn't tell what the reason was.

 

xXx

Zelda made her way back up to the castle, when she was stalled by the sight of several of her guards keeling over. "What happened here?" She exclaimed, rushing over to two guards huddled around another, sitting on the ground. "That shadow, your Majesty." One of the standing guards growled. "He snuck out of the castle and knocked several of us out."

Zelda's brow creased with both annoyance and confusion. "Why would he do that?"

"Because he's a psychopath." The guard on the ground added, rubbing at a lump on the back of his head.

Zelda sighed, and dropped her head in her hand, fingers rubbing the line of her eye. That shadow was likely to be the death of her. Maybe she should reconsider asking for his help.

"I'd definitely be a lot happier if Link didn't bring him back."

"What?' Zelda's head snapped up, eyes wide. "Link went after-" She cut herself off, mid-sentence, with an exasperated sigh. Her palm hit her face again. "Don't know why I'm surprised. Of course he did."

"Now that I think about it, Link's been gone for a while."

Zelda rubbed away the last of her annoyance. "Do you have any idea where they went?"

"Afraid not, Princess."

Zelda sighed. "Alright. Have the injured tended to, and replace the lookouts. Let me know if you see sign of either one of them."

"Of course, Princess." The guards bowed out, attending some of Knil's victims back into the castle. Although most went without a second thought, some still insisted they were fit for duty.

Zelda made her way into the castle, and up to her chambers. Once the door was closed, she fell back against it, heaving a deep sigh. "What am I going to do?" Her attention drew to a light sprinkling sound, from the direction of her desk. She looked up to see Navi flying towards her. "Welcome back, Princess."

"Navi? Where did you come from?"

Navi drifted up in front of her. "Link sent me here. He wanted me to tell you that they're in Kakariko Village and working on a way to find the stone."

"Oh, are they." Zelda sighed, with relief. "I suppose that's good to hear. Is Link doing alright?"

"Huh?" Navi sparked, in confusion. "Yea, he's ok. Knil's still trying to shake off whatever was wrong with him still, but Link's just fine."

"That's good." Zelda's head drooped. "I suppose I'll have to trust Link to handle it from here."

"Don't look so down, Princess." Navi exclaimed, clenching her fists in victory. "Link will come through. When has he ever failed?"

Zelda thought about this briefly, then smiled sadly at the thought. "I suppose you're right."

 

xXx

The two Hylians sat in silence as the day rolled on. The sun had nearly fallen, and Link skimmed over the map by candlelight, diligently trying to find some room he hadn't yet explored. Navi had returned and was perched on the table, looking over it as well. Knil hadn't felt like getting any more rest and was sitting against the wall pouting. At least he looked like he was pouting. It's very possible he was in deep thought as well, and it was just difficult to tell the difference. Ivan, on the other hand, was fast asleep on his shoulder. Her dull sleepy light casting odd shadows over his face.

Knil was distracted when Link groaned in aggravation, rubbing his hat off and laid in on the table. He sighed, dropping his eyes into his hands.

"What's your problem?"

Link sighed, rubbing his strained eyes. "No matter how many times I look over this map, I just can't find an area I didn't already explore." He slumped, his head falling back over the chair. "Something like this should have been obvious to spot. I think I would remember it."

Knil snorted. "Maybe it's an area not on the map."

Link leaned his head back further to look at him. Even if he was upside down. "But this map was made by the old sage of Shadows. Why would something not be on the map?"

"It's very possible this 'old sage' didn't want anyone stumbling across the stone." Knil snorted, his fists clenching in their folded state. "You said yourself, it'd be dangerous in the wrong hands."

Link thought about this logic for a bit. "I guess you're right, but I didn't even see anything leading to an alternate area."

"What about under the temple?"

"What? Under it?" Link sat back up and scanned the map. Was there a way under the temple?

"There's plenty of pits in that place. Maybe it's down one of those."

Link located several dark pits indicated on the old parchment. "Oh." He'd never even thought to ever go down in any of them. He could never see the bottom. It just didn't seem logical to try that. Suddenly something occurred to him, and he spun around towards Knil. "Hold on. How do you know about that?"

"What?"

"I get how you can have some of my residual memories, from childhood, but I never went to the Shadow Temple as a kid."

"Residual memories? What are you talking about?"

"Well, how else do you explain how you got through the Lost Woods?"

Knil's face flushed. "I don't know. I just did." He snapped, although his eyes narrowed unsure. Ivan was startled awake, fluttering from his shoulder.

Link felt a ping in his chest, and found himself just staring at Knil in a mix of confusion and a strange touch of annoyance. (Where did that come from?) Navi however, flew from the table, and right up to him. "No one, 'just gets through' the Lost Woods. It's deep and confusing and only a real Kokiri knows how to navigate it."

Knil growled, slamming a hand onto the bed. "Well Link isn't a Kokiri either, so neither of you have a right to talk."

"He was raised as one, and you weren't. So there." She stuck a tongue out at him, and Knil raised a hand to smack at her, which she barely managed to dodge. "Hey, watch it, ya twerp."

"Who you calling twerp? Bug."

Navi started turning red again, and Ivan decided to join in. After all, she couldn't let that dimwit talk to her master that way.

Link drew a hand to his chest. What was that? Was he feeling Knil's unease, or possibly causing his own? I suppose it must be strange to have someone else's memories in your head. "Hey guys." Link began, calmly, but somehow alerting all three of them enough to stop what they were doing. "Maybe our efforts will be better spent actually exploring the temple. It'd be good for us all to rest up first, though." He stood, his head down enough to where his eyes were shadowed, and made his way towards the other bed. "Why don't we head out in the morning."

Slowly, Navi started drifting over towards him, starting to feel the uncertainty in the room. "Ok, Link. Whatever you say."

Knil, however, buried his own insecurity and waved a nonchalant hand his way. "Yea, sure. You're the boss, right?"

"I guess." Link stated plainly, having cocooned himself under the blanket, facing the wall.

At the slow faded tone of his voice, Knil's eyes widened on him, feeling he was actually concerned. Nothing he ever said got to him before. "What's wrong with you?" He asked, trying very hard not to actually sound concerned.

"Nothing." Link yawned. "I'm just tired."

Navi stared down at Link, then glanced back at Knil. He was now failing to hide his mildly concerned curiosity. That is, until he realized Navi staring at him. Then, he sneered, and flopped down in the bed, pulling the blanket tightly around him.

Navi just rolled her eyes, and flitted over towards Link, settling down on the pillow. She laid a small hand on his forehead. "Are you sure you're ok, Link?"

Link turned his head up towards her and smiled. "I'm fine, Navi. Just go to sleep."

 

xXx

Bright and early, the next morning, the four adventurers set out for the graveyard. Knil stood in the entrance, glancing around. He saw a small shack, to the right, a few bobbing lanterns, and varied assortment of tombstones... but no temple entrance. "So, where is this place?" He asked, throwing his arms out.

Link pointed towards the back of the graveyard. "It's up there. This way." Instead of heading towards the back, Link made his way to the left.

Knil was rather confused, but followed anyway. As he stepped by, one of the bobbing lanterns approached him. Knil glanced down at it, but gave no further notice or caring. That is, until it started spinning and smacked him in the shoulder, igniting his sleeve. "The hell?" Knil drew his sword and knocked the lantern away. Once back off, some ethereal creature appeared, dangling the lantern threateningly. "What is that thing?"

Nimbly, Link drew his bow, and nailed it with an arrow. The creature let out a high pitched squeal, dissolving into a small violet flame. "It's a Poe." Link sheathed his bow, and made his way over. "They appear here, in the graveyard, sometimes. You ok?"

"Yea." Knil checked his scorched shirt. It went out almost instantly, but there was a blister forming on his shoulder. That was gonna be sore for a while.

"I don't just mean that." Link added, stepping around in front of him. "Overall, how ya doing?"

Knil cringed at the insinuation. Maybe his head was still a bit dizzy, and over-all, he couldn't stop shaking, but how dare he try to figure that out. "I'm fine." He huffed, turning his head away.

Link's lips tweaked at him, questioningly, then laughed, shaking his head. "Whatever you say, Knil." He definitely seemed to be in better spirits. Link made his way over to a large leaf that appeared to be hovering above the ground. He turned around, holding a hand out to Knil. "Come on."

Knil just eyed it unsure, then stepped closer, but he sure as hell wasn't taking his hand. "What's this thing?"

"It's our way in." Link answered matter-of-factually then stepped on. "Hurry up."

Having no time to think, Knil jumped on the leaf, nearly losing his balance when it started rising up into the air, and floated around the graveyard. It was kinda cool, but Knil was cursing how small it was. Fortunately, they didn't have to stand that close for too long, before Link grabbed Knil's arm and they jumped off and onto a small balcony type area etched into the side of the mountain behind the graveyard. Knil wrapped his hands around the railing and looked back down at the graveyard. "This is supposed to be easily accessible?"

Link shrugged. "Maybe it was at one point. Stay here, for a minute."

"What? Why?"

"Knil, please." Link sighed. "Just listen, for once, and stay here."

He wasn't too happy about it, but Knil hung back as Link descended down the stairway into the darkness below. He didn't know why he needed to stay back. Link was nearly blind, in the dark, anyway.

From down the stairs, there was a bright eruption of red tinted light, stopping his thought in their tracks. Ivan quickly hid behind his shoulder, and peered over. A bright flash of fire rushed up the stairs towards them. Knil yelped, and took a step back, but the fire dispersed into the air as soon as it was out the door. Something, down the stairs, started sliding, and echoed through the area. What the hell was that?

"Alright, you can come down now." Link called up from the bottom, which was relatively brighter now.

Slowly, Knil made his way down, Ivan following slowly. At the bottom, of the stairs, Knil could make out a wide array of torches, standing tall as they covered the circular floor. A stone pedestal stood in the middle, and a door was just making its way into the ceiling. Knil wound through the torches, trying to figure out what Link did. The memory of Link using a dome of fire, against him, came back into his memory. The knowledge of this aggravated him. Yea, that spell was very familiar. "So, how do you light the torch, without burning it down completely?"

Link took full note of the annoyance in his voice, but smiled pleasantly. "I'm just special that way."

Knil had to agree with that one.

They ventured on into the temple, soon coming across a hole blocking the way. Knil snorted, fists propped on his hips. "Oh yea, this is a real easy temple to get into."

"It hasn't been used in a while, and has been falling apart." Navi retaliated.

"I don't think this was ever fit for humans."

Link just rolled his eyes, choosing to ignore them, and pulled out his hook shot. He aimed it for the other side, and fired, allowing himself to be drawn across, then climbed on up.

Knil scoffed. "Really?"

"Stop being condescending, and get ready to grab this." Link stated, aiming the hook shot back towards the other side.

"Don't bother. I don't need it." Knil backed up to the wall.

"What? You can't make that jump."

"Just watch." It didn't matter how much his legs were shaking, he wasn't about to pass over a chance to show Link up. Even if he was right. Knil wasn't very confident he could make that jump either.

Knil took off towards the hole and jumped up, off to the side. He planted a foot on the wall and ran along it until he landed on the other side. Then, just for good measure, struck a pose of 'Yea, I know I'm awesome'.

Navi scowled, sitting on top of Link's hat. "Are you gonna be like this the whole time?"

"Yes. Yes I am." Knil stated back, nearly sticking his nose up at the impertinent faerie.

"Well, I'm impressed That was pretty cool." Link commented lightly, completely shattering Knil's smug attitude. "Come on, let's go." He drew his sword and started for the entrance.

Knil resigned to the compliment and followed, drawing his sword as well.

 

xXx

The first room had a tall statue surrounded by a series of short pillars with skull adorning each, and another large hole. Hanging on the other side of the hole was a tongue shaped platform leading for you to walk into the owner's mouth.

A sharp ping of familiarity hit Knil in the stomach. Not in the sense of any lingering memories, or whatever Link described it as, but a sense that he'd actually been here before. The cold dank scent of foreboding. The wind and the screeching of the creatures echoing through the dark hallways all seemed unnervingly familiar. The impression of a large hand on his shoulder, drawing him through the temple. Every sense he had cried out in welcome to these familiar surroundings. It was almost enough to make him want to turn around and leave immediately, but at the same time drawing him in. Wrapping around him with its familiar comforting cold that even stopped the shaking.

Link pulled out the map and started scanning over it again. "Well, there's a number of pits, in this temple. Should we just head down here?"

"No." Knil responded, in a very odd airy voice. "We need to find a boat."

"A boat?" Link looked up, very confused, just in time to see Knil run for the edge and jump over, onto the tongue. "Knil, wait. What's going on?"

Knil looked into the doorway then stopped, glancing down the dark hole. "I can't explain it-" He trailed off, looking over to Link. "But I've been here before."

Link was speechless. He really didn't know what to think about this comment. Knil had grown up in the Water Temple. That was all the way on the other side of Hyrule. Why would he have actual memories of this place? Was it, perhaps, just the resemblance of his being made from darkness? "Well, hold on." Link fished the Phoenix attachments from his satchel and attached them to his boots. "Don't go without me." He ran out over the gap, letting the Phoenix boots carry him as far as they could, then jumped for the ledge. Knil backed up a step, since Link slid, when he landed. Almost like he was walking on ice.

"What are those?" Knil asked, eying the strange boots.

Link held up his heel, revealing the golden feather attachments. "My phoenix boots. They're very handy in here."

Knil just blinked slowly, then headed on through the door. "Whatever."

Link was tempted to take the boots off, and run after him, but soon resolved to just sort of skate through the hall.

After a few feet, Knil stopped, blocked off by a rock wall. This road-block didn't register in his memory. "Hey, Link, you got any bombs?"

"Yes, but you don't need them." Link responded cheerfully, sliding up to the wall, and right on through, as though there were nothing there. Knil stared at the wall, in shock, as he heard Link chuckled from the other side. "Things aren't always what they seem, in here."

Slowly, Knil reached a hand forward, and through the wall. He didn't even feel anything as his hand disappeared before him, and he stepped on through as well. Still a bit shocked, he cast a glance back to the deceptive wall. "Neat."

"So." Link began, stepping up to Knil. "You said you remembered a boat?"

"Yea." Knil responded rather distantly, eyes scanning the room. It was another small circular room, that teased on the edges of his memories. Except for the strings of scorch marks scattered across the walls and floor, as well as a large burn in the direct center. Almost as if something had been shooting lasers, then then exploded. "Everything's a bit fuzzy, but I remember seeing some kind of floating boat." He thought about that statement, for a bit, then shook his head. "But this place is nowhere near the water. That can't possibly be right."

"Not true." Link stated confidently, clapping a hand on his shoulder. "Come on. I know a short cut." With that, he spun towards the left hand side and through the wall again. Not bothering to question it, Knil followed him on through the door behind the wall.

This next room held a much larger floor plan, but they couldn't exactly access much of it. In the very center were two conjoined hooded figures rotating two large scythes along the majority of the room. This definitely didn't look familiar. "What the hell? Are all the temples like this?"

Link shrugged. "Pretty much."

"Who would build something like this?"

Link started laughing.

"No, seriously." Knil exclaimed, throwing his hands out towards the statue. "Who thought this was a logical design for something like this. No wonder people never come to this place anymore."

"Come on, Knil." Link said, still trying to shake off the last of his amusements. He often wondered about this as well, but never really cared to question it. All that really mattered was getting through and freeing the sages. "Just stick close to the wall, and you'll be alright."

The blade spun particularly close to them, and Knil flinched. "Yea, right." Even still, he proceeded on, following Link's lead. The two faeries flew up higher, watching over their non-flying compatriots. There were sections of the wall where they had to wait for the blade, and then run across before the blade came back. At one point, Knil hadn't crossed quick enough, and the blade caught into the side of his tunic, dragging him back.

Ivan gasped, clapping her hands over her eyes. She was too nervous to watch, but still peeked through her fingers. Navi, on the other hand, learned long ago not to freak out if Link got hit with something. He was very resilient. Also, so it seemed, was Knil, as he quickly regained his balance and ducked under the blade as it spun around again.

"In here." Link slid into an offshoot, of the room, in the far north-east corner. Knil continued his way around, rolling under the blade once more, and into the nook. The faeries soon followed. Knil looked around, and found nothing. Although, given Link's knowledge of this temple, there was likely a hidden passage.

He was right, for what he saw when Link walked to the far end of the nook. A small halo of light appeared around the bottom of his shoes. Link had just enough time to glance back and Knil and grin. "Down here." Just as the words escaped his lips, Link fell through the floor and landed with a loud thunk. Navi flew down after him.

Well, that definitely didn't look safe. Knil crept closer, feeling with his hands for the edge of the actual floor. When his fingers slipped through, he drew closer and poked his head through. Link was standing at the bottom, waving him on down. There was a wall trailing down to him, with vines climbing all the way up to the hole. Knil frowned. What a show-off. Gingerly, Knil slid through the hole, and grabbed onto the vines, about half-way down. From there, he just jumped on down to where Link was standing. Link had taken this time to remove the Phoenix attachments, and jumped down a second hole into a whole new area.

This new room was far more expansive, although just as equally empty. There was a high ledge to one side, but it only had half a floor. The entirety of the other side was just a dark bottom-less cavern.

"Is this it?" Knil asked a tad sceptically. It was somewhat familiar, but everything was very hazy now.

"This is where the boat was, yes." Link answered, stepping closer to the edge. He knelt next to the ledge, and peered down into the dark depths. "Is this drawing up any memories"

Knil joined him, and looked down as well. Once looking over the side, he could feel a gentle nudge, guiding him closer to the hole. "I believe so." He answered lightly.

Link glanced up, noting how Knil's eyes glazed over again, as if they were allowing what memories he had to pass through them, into his head.

"So, how do you propose you two get down there?" Ivan inquired, settling on Knil's shoulder.

Link turned up to Navi, making her flutter from atop his head. "Hey, Navi. Think you can shed some light on the area?"

"Yea. I could do that." She flew out over the cavern, and turned back. "You coming, Ivan?"

"What? Me?"

"I could use a second set of eyes."

Ivan's light turned a touch pinker, and she glanced over at Knil for support. "Go on, ahead." She frowned deeply, but followed anyway. That wasn't the support she was hoping for.

The two faeries flew down into the chasm, their light growing brighter as they drew further away.

"Be careful, you two." Link called after them, watching as the lights retreated into the darkness.

The swordsmen waited, in silence, straining their eyes to see the two specs of lights in the darkness. It seemed eternal, but was only a matter of moments before the bobbing lights zoomed back up. Ivan arrived first, speed racing Navi back to her master. She clung to Knil's neck, burying herself in his hair. "What's wrong? What happened?" Knil asked, for the first time, since Link's seen, showing legitimate terror for his faerie friend's well-being.

"N-nothing." Ivan chirped. "It's just scary down there."

Knil rolled his eyes at the skittish faerie.

Navi drifted in front of them, rolling a chill from her arms. "To be honest, I agree. I don't like it down there."

"But what did you see?" Link asked, holding out his hands.

Navi drifted closer and landed in his outstretched palms. "There is definitely an unexplored portion of the temple down there, but..." She trailed off, shivering again, and sat down.

"But what? Were there any monsters?"

"Well, no. Not in the immediate area anyway."

"Don't forget the floor." Ivan chimed in.

"The floor?" Knil asked, reaching a hand back to try and pull her out. She didn't want to come out.

"Yea, that." Navi decided to elaborate. "There's not exactly a visible floor down there."

"What do you mean? Can we not walk down there?"

"Oh, you can walk. It's just covered in stuff I wouldn't want to walk on."

Knil just rolled his eyes. This little faerie was being annoyingly cryptic. Link however, had no problem letting Navi not say what she didn't want to, as she clung to his thumb. "Well, we can always come back out, if we need to." He tucked the blue faerie into the hem of his hat, and rummaged in his satchel again. He pulled out the hook shot and aimed it at the ceiling, where it lodged deep in the rocks. However, instead of drawing him to it, Link allowed the chain to go slack. "I'll check it out first, then you can follow."

Knil rolled his eyes at him, but resolved either way. Waving his hands to tell him to hurry up.

Link swung out over the chasm, hanging onto the hook shot. Slowly, the chain unraveled, lowering him down into the darkness. Navi tried her best to not hide and give him some sense of light as he drew ever deeper. As he lowered himself in, the sound of distant skittering and moaning started to get louder. Almost as if this was where a large chunk of those creatures he kept hearing were hiding.

Finally, the bottom came into view, as the uneven faerie light flickered off of the uneven floor. Link slowed his descent, eying the strange floor. Navi mustered up her courage and flew out of the hat to better illuminate the floor. Even Link's chest gave a strange lurch of unease. The floor was completely covered with corpses. Bones and skulls littering the area at different stages of decay. More than he would have liked to admit were still rather juicy. Link swallowed hard, pushing it back down, and gently set a foot down. His boot crunched against the brittle bones, testing the sturdiness of what flooring he could find within it. Feeling a tad satisfied with the resilience, Link transferred his full weight to the ground, still keeping a hand on the hook shot. Another shudder ran up his skin as the bones were almost up to his knees. This was not gonna be fun. "Ok, Navi." He began, trying not to show his unease. "Follow this back up, and accompany Knil down."

"What?" Navi shrieked. "You want me to leave you down here alone?"

"I'll be fine." Link drew his sword, eyes still flicking around. "It's not gonna be for that long, and Knil doesn't know how to operate the hook shot. It's fine, just go."

Navi obviously did not want to go, but knew it'd be a lot better to get Knil down here as soon as possible. She gripped onto the hook shot, and shoved in the retract feature. It took off, back up, and Navi flew after it, keeping Link in her sight for as long as she could.

Knil watching Link rest on the bottom, shortly before the hook shot snapped back into place, in the middle of the ceiling. Navi joined it, messing with the settings, and dragged it over towards Knil. "Alright, your turn."

Knil grasped onto the end, and (a bit hesitantly) swung out over the hole. Navi landed on his hand, activating the feature to lower Knil down. He definitely wasn't liking this. Link really liked to rely on these gadgets. Sure, they were handy, but there was no way he'd trust them this much. Soon, Knil reached the bottom, more than happy to let go. He jumped off, a few feet up, crunching loudly on the bones. Navi fluttered over to Link, resting in the hem of his hat again. Link's anxiety melted away as soon as she had returned to illuminate the small area. Ivan, however, wasn't going to try to help with any light. She was buried deep in Knil's hair, whimpering softly. Whatever. It's not like he needed it anyway.

"So which way from here?" Link asked, eyes squinting to try and make out something, in the surroundings, from Navi's limited light source. Even though she didn't want to leave Link's side again, Navi slowly drifted out along the long stretch of bones and walls. Unfortunately, that was all she could make out. Occasionally some armor and shields mixed in with the corpses. "I don't see any other doors. Are you sure there's even a way out of here?"

Link whipped around with the sound of bones crunching behind him. The crunching was soon accompanied by Knil's voice. "There's something down that way."

"So, what, you can see in the da-?" Link glanced back at Knil and froze mid-sentence. All he could really make out from his dark side was a vague outline of a shadow, but that wasn't what stumped him. Two red glowing orbs standing out against the stark contrast of his form, where his eyes would be. His eyes had always been strange, but Link never realized how they glowed like this. On the other hand, he supposed that made perfect sense. Being born from darkness himself, Knil should have no problem seeing in the dark. Guess his eyes glowed to compensate or reflect this sight. Knil realized he was being stared at and turned towards Link. "What the hell are you staring at?"

"Uh, nothing. I'm afraid I just can't see as far as you can."

Knil groaned, and pointed in the direction of Navi. "There's some big vessel down that way."

Link looked, squinting to see through the darkness. Even with Navi's light he still couldn't make out anything but mounds and shadows. "Um."

"Can you seriously not see that!?"

Link grinned sheepishly and shrugged. He couldn't help it if his sight wasn't as good.

Knil rolled his gleaming eyes and grabbed Link's wrist, dragging him on through the piles of bones. "Come on."

Navi noted their venture and more than happily retreated to perch in Link's hat.

"So." Link began a touch hesitantly. "Does any of this look familiar to you?"

Knil thought about the inquiry, debating both on how or if he should answer. "It's not so much of a look that seems familiar." At least not anymore. "It's more that I can almost feel which way to go."

"Like a muscle memory?"

Knil took a bit to consider this question as well. "Maybe some, but it's mostly the atmosphere." Link saw the glowing eyes narrow a touch. "It's all just very hazy."

Link fell quiet, glancing up at the bluish light over his head. After a while of trudging through the floor of bones a large shadow began to appear. Propped up against what looked like a large wall.

Navi floated over towards it, illuminating the vessel. "Link, it's the shadow boat."

"Oh, that's right. It crashed when I rode it down towards Bongo-Bongo." Link looked up at the ceiling to try and see where it had fallen from, but what little light there was reflecting off the dense fog obstructed any visibility up top.

Knil's brows creased in confusion. "Bongo-Bongo?"

Link walked up to the boat, looking it over. "Yea, it was the monster that had sealed Impa's sage powers."

"That may be, but it's still a stupid name."

"I didn't name him." Link shrugged, looking over the boat further. He and Knil slowly worked their way around the vessel. "See any way out?" Even Navi moved out and squeezed into the small cracks to see better. "Nothing yet."

Knil made his way around, moving into the large hole the crash had caused in the underside of the boat. It was dank, and the echos bounced off the inside of the wooden structure more rapidly. On the left side, nearest to the wall was a pile of planks from the impact. Knil moved the planks, and found nothing but the wall behind it. He was sure this was right. Gently, he placed a hand against the wall, and it melted through, just as he had with the other walls. Nothing was what it seemed. "I found something." Knil called out. Navi managed to squeeze in to where he was, lighting up the area. "What did you find?"

Navi lit up the wall as he stuck his hand through again. "There's a hole over here. Show Link where it is."

"Sure." Navi swept out of the hole and made her way around to find Link. Soon, Link climbed into the boat, and over towards Knil. They exited through the wall into a much brighter room. Knil shaded his eyes against the purplish hues the torches cast upon the room.

It may have at least been brighter, but there were still very deep shadows in every corner. The uneven lighting making it difficult for either of them to see well. "So, where are we supposed to go from here?" Knil asked, glancing around the room for a way out.

Link fished out the Lens of Truth and held it up. It also helped sometimes in low light. The other end of the small square room stretched on for a bit longer than it initially appeared. "This way." Link lifted his feet over the crumbling bones and made his way through the wall. Knil rolled his eyes. If it wasn't for the urge to keep going, he'd turn back now. Especially with his timid faerie friend cowering in his hair.

The next area was at least half times brighter than before, except this time the dim lighting was caused by the winding luminescent pool of green liquid, stretching around the next corner. "Well, at least the lights getting better." Link commented, surveying the area with his lens. It was good to see the floor only had stray bones here and there.

Knil scoffed, mumbling, "Sure it is." He stepped around the pool, and Link followed on around the corner. It lead into another larger area where the pool circled into a maze-like pattern, with a real doorway on the other end. Knil noticed the door first, and turned to Link. "Is there any hidden things."

Link took a quick survey of the room. "I don't see anything."

"Well, good." Knil jumped over a thin part of the pool, and started on through the area. Link followed slowly behind. Considering what the area above was like, it was a bit surprising to see such a lack of offense.

Navi fluttered off to survey the room. She circled, catching Knil's eye. She definitely was a brave little bug. Definitely practiced in alerting Link to any dangers. He vaguely wondered how Link would fair without her. His attention diverted back to Ivan. He could feel her tiny fingers twisting nervously in his hair. Navi fluttered up next to him.

"Hey, Nav."

Navi flinched at hearing such a friendly call to her, from Knil. "Huh?"

He gestured a hand towards his neck. "Think you can do something to help her out?"

Navi glanced around at the faint violet glow echoing behind his neck. She smiled a sigh and fluttered up to Ivan. "Come on, Honey. You wanna help me look around?"

Ivan curled in further, hiding her face.

"Oh, come on." Navi landed on Knil's shoulder, resting a hand on her arm. "There's nothing that can hurt us. We can fly." She scooted onto her knees, managing to draw her face out. "Plus, you can heal."

"All the more reason for me to stay here."

"You're not really that safe back there." Knil added. "You'd be much safer if you - " He had just reached the open area, in front of the door, when a strange moan caught his ear. Knil gripped his sword, and spun to the sound to see something shuffling in the shadows.

Navi drifted up. "What is it?" Instinctively, she lit up the shadow, running right into a thin dark-brown face, and shrieked. "LINK! REDEAD!" It swatted at her, but she zipped away, hiding with Ivan in Knil's hair.

"Knil, get away from it!" Link cried, from a few feet away.

What was the big deal? It was a weak scrawny thing. Knil raised his sword, but was stopped dead in his tracks when a loud, ear-splitting screech echoing in his head. The sound sent a thrill of fear through his spine, paralyzing his body. He stood, frozen, with his sword held in the air as it slowly stepped closer. Knil wasn't really one to paralyze from fear, but this was different. It was as if his body was encased in amber. No matter how much his muscles ached against the strain, Knil could not make his body move. What the hell was this thing?

As those hollow black eyes turned up towards him, the terror intensified, sending waves of cold chills through his body. Without even a hint of buildup, the reDead leaped at him. A sudden flash caught the area, as a flaming arrow caught the creature in the left eye socket. It crumpled to the ground, dead, but somehow, Knil still couldn't move. Another flash hit somewhere behind him, and a slow moan cried out from the impact.

Finally, Knil could feel movement return to his body, but it was all he could do to catch himself from face-planting the hard stone as his knees gave out. He panted, feeling as though a large bolder had just been moved from his chest. His jaw was shaking, and cold sweat streamed off the end of his nose.

Link rushed over and knelt next to Knil, dropping a hand on his back. "It's alright, Knil. Just breath."

Even though the chills over terror were gone, all Knil wanted to do was scream. Although he didn't know if it was from the lingering fear of that monster, or anger at his own incompetency. Knil managed to draw in a deep breath and growled. "What… the hell.. was that?"

Link sighed, seemed like he was ok. "That was a reDead. It's scream can paralyze you, then they jump on you, and start to suck out your life."

Knil's eyes glowed with an extra spark of rage as he turned to look at Link. "You couldn't have warned me about that before?"

Link's blush was barely visible in the low green light. "I'm sorry. I really didn't think about it. They're not ever smart enough to hide like that."

Knil scoffed. Yea, sure he didn't think about it. "Is there anything else you didn't think to tell me about?"

Link thought for a bit, trying to remember what all obstacles he had encountered in here. "Well, there's possibly Gibdo, which are similar to reDeads, except that they look like they're wrapped in bandages."

Knil sat back, wiping his brow. Navi drifted out, flittering in front of him. "Wallmasters are kind of annoying."

Link cringed. "Yea, I hate those things."

"What?"

“They don’t actually hurt you, they just fall from the ceiling and transport you back to the entrance.  Navi can usually sense when there’s one nearby.”

Knil rolled his eyes, and started to stand. "I'm starting to think this damn stone isn't worth it."

Link opened his mouth to retaliate, but closed it again. He supposed, to Knil, it really wasn't worth it. He could have just stayed in Kakariko… so why didn't he? "You can always head back." Link finally added, standing up.

"Link." Navi started, but Link grabbed her, overhand, completely shutting her off. He held onto the little blue faerie to keep her quiet. "I can handle this, so you can just head back to the village, and wait there, for me." He released Navi, and walked on past Knil. He opened the door and started out, when Knil spoke. "There aren't like-likes in here, are there?"

Link thought on this again. "I've seen a couple, yes."

Knil groaned. He hated like-likes. "I might as well come anyway. Better than you getting yourself killed."

Link smirked. "I think I can handle myself."

"Not if you forget what creatures are in here."

"I didn't know when I first came in here."

"Shut up."

Link laughed. "Fine. But if you're still coming, you need to stop complaining." He left through the door, Knil following close behind. "I make no promises."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I concur, Knil. Like-likes and ReDeads are the worst. I hate things that eat me. This chapter may get revised a bit, but I really want them to find the stone.


	5. Chapitre cinq

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, it took me a while to realize I hadn't updated here in a while.

The trudge through the temple was relatively smooth. There were a few stray enemies, here and there, but nothing the duo couldn't handle. This was, of course, coupled with a few more reDeads, which Knil now knew better than to get close to. Besides, Link's fire was more than capable of taking care of them… from a distance.

Eventually, Navi even managed to draw Ivan out into the air. She still stayed relatively close to her counter-part, but at least she was no longer cowering. She even started to get the hang of assisting with sensing enemies. Course, her way of relaying this information was to scream and fly away from the area, but at least it was informative.

It got to the point where Knil was even leading the way. Still not sure what this feeling was, but it was almost like the temple was telling him which way to go. He didn't even seem to need the Lens of Truth. Knil would just step right up to a wall and walk on through.

As they grew deeper into the dark depths, the fog grew thicker around their knees and distant moaning grew louder. Along with a new sound like something skittering along the walls, but even with the lens, nothing could be seen. Knil was starting to feel a lot more at home.

After a while, Knil stopped, with a brisk crunch in the bones, halting Link behind him. "What is it?"

Knil's still glowing eyes flickered around the dead end. "Something's not right."

Link drew the lens and looked around. There was no sign of a hidden path, or switches sitting on the walls. "Maybe we took a wrong turn?"

"Can't be." Knil snatched the lens and looked for himself. His vision was better, in this dark anyway, but he couldn't see anything either. He was sure this was right. His gut, or memories, or whatever the hell it was told him so. "This doesn't make any sense." The lens fell to his hip, hand gripping tightly around the handle. He was sure of it. Knil sighed, annoyed. Why did he even think listening to some stupid feeling would work?

Navi and Ivan flew up, feeling along the web covered walls to try and find something. "This is just gross."

"Imagine having to walk in this." Link smirked, with an emphasized crunch on the bones. They weren't quite knee high anymore, but it still covered his foot, whenever he was able to find ground. Link's attention was drawn when Knil smacked his sword against the wall, listening for some kind of frequency difference. Link sighed. "It's alright, Knil. Memories can play tricks on you. It's possible we can find an alternate route."

"No, hold on." Knil's sword continued to clang off the walls, failing to hear any hollow difference. Link could sympathize. He'd done the same thing many times before, when he had gotten lost. Knil started towards the far corner, when he lost the floor, and fells right through the fog, with a startled scream.

"Knil!"

Ivan, who was definitely merging from her little fear bubble zipped right through the fog, where he had fallen.

Knil managed to land on his feet, and coiled up to brace the impact. It still hurt like hell, but at least there was nothing broken. He fell to his knees, coughing at the dust that was kicked up.

"Master, are you ok?!" Ivan screeched, flying by his side.

"Yea, I'm fine." Knil croaked, waving the dust away. He glanced around the room, trying to see through the dust. It was relatively dark, except for Ivan's glow, but it seemed as though he had fallen well below the fog layer. There were a few stray bones, but most had been imbedded in the walls. The large room expanded on through what looked like a long tunnel that was even too far for him to see. Knil could hear Link calling after him, and glanced up at the small light square in the ceiling. It couldn't be more than seven feet up.

Knil cupped a hand next to his mouth and called, "I FOUND IT!"

Link must have taken that to mean he was alright. First Navi drifted in, soon followed by Link, who landed in a similar way he had. He too, took in the surroundings, possibly calculating his next move. "So you did."

Knil stood, gently, stretching out his sore legs.

"You sure you're ok?"

"Yea. Just a rough landing."

The two faeries lit the way as they started on down the long tunnel. As they walked, Link suddenly stopped. "Shh, do you hear that?" They all stopped and listened. A strange, and very creepy wooshing sound slowly grew louder, as they listened. Link began to make out the long shadowy fingers encircling Knil. "Wallmaster!" He cried, shoving Knil out of the way. They hit the ground just as a large rotting hand grasped at the hard ground, searching for its target. The long sharp nails made soft skittering sounds. Link raised his sword to kill it, but the wallmaster leaped up and melted into the stone wall.

Knil just stared at the spot, where it disappeared, then he turned to Navi. "I thought you could sense when those things were around?"

Navi flushed. "I was distracted, ok?"

Knil scoffed, standing up. "You really are useless."

"Come on." Link sighed. "As long as we keep moving, it can't get us." Navi drifted over to sit on his hat. "Let me know when we're out of its range."

"Yea."

Knil had lost what little confidence he had it the blue faerie, but it wasn't worth his effort to worry about it. There were more pressing matters to attend to. That drawing presence was far stronger below the fog.

The party proceeded on through the long corridor. Finding another door, down at the end. Although, when they passed through, all four of them wanted to turn around instantly.

Navi gulped, curling further into Link's hat. "Well, we're away from the wallmaster."

The next room had to have at least fifteen crouching figures of the non-living variety. On the plus side, they didn't seem to be reacting to their presence. On the other hand, they were in the way.

A chill ran up Knil's spine, and he backed up into the door. "All your's."

Link didn't like it, but he still had to smirk as he pulled the small red crystal from his satchel. He held the crystal firmly, and straight out towards the group of reDeads. A dome of fire surrounded them, pushing out from the wall, and engulfed the monsters fully. At least that's what it seemed. The reDeads were rekilled well enough, but two keese, which had been clinging to the walls burst into flames and flew towards them.

"What the hell?" Knil readied his sword, and sliced through both of them with ease. The flying rats fell to the ground, extinguishing on contact. Knil huffed. "Who's bright idea was it to allow keese to be set on fire?" He glanced back to see Link leaning against the wall. His eyes were closed, breathing slowly. Navi was holding a small piece of parchment, fanning him with it.

"Hey, you alright?"

Link nodded. "Yea. Just a little worn." He wiped the back of his hand across his brow. "I've been using a little too much magic."

"That might do it."

Link smiled, taking a deep breath. "Magic isn't really my forte. Zelda's far more powerful than I am."

Knil scoffed. Powerful – yea right. If she was so powerful, then why couldn't she fight for herself? He would have mentioned this out loud, but didn't feel like listening to another Link rant.

See, he's learning. "Think you'll be alright to go on?"

"Yea, of course." Link stated, pushing himself off the wall. "This happens every now and then. I've adapted." He started off, further down the corridor.

Knil just shook his head, and followed. Guess he wasn't the only stubborn one around here.

xXx

The web covering was getting thicker, as they moved along. The road was broken up with a few larger areas, but that was all. No more doors to go through, or secret entrances into unknown areas. It was fortunately a straight shot, but what there was of the path grew thinner. The stray bones gave way to more skulltula webbing, which kept catching their feet. They were mostly just thick. The stickiness having worn off long ago.

Soon, they came to an expansive circular room, covered from floor to ceiling with webbing.

A chill ran down Link's spine, his eyes shooting around to try and see if there were any around. In the dark depths, he ran face to face with a large skull and screamed. Jumping back, he drew his bow on it... it didn't move. The large arachnid didn't even seem aware of his presence. Link circled the skull to try and get a shot to its soft underbelly, but there was none. All that remained of this creature was its protective exoskeleton. What used to be the sharp pincers lay prone beside the yellowing skull. Navi flitted around some to reveal many curled up forms laying along the webs. Another few waves of chills ran over Link. They were in the middle of a nest. Fortunately, they all seemed to be dead, but it still wasn't very welcoming. "Knil, are you sure this is right?... Knil?"

Knil wasn't paying attention to him. He was being drawn by a faint purplish light, shining towards the middle of the floor. A light that somehow had escaped Link's notice. Gently, he tread through the thick webbing, drawing closer to the light.

"What is it?" Ivan asked, once again, settling on his shoulder.

Knil crouched, not willing to sit or kneel in this mass, and gently started to pull back the webs. "I think I found something."

From what Link could see there were two floating light sources in this darkness. He followed the red-violet light towards Knil, continuing to strain his eyes through the dark. "Is it the stone?"

Finally, the source was uncovered, and Link could see the faint glow. It wasn't nearly as bright as any of the other Spiritual Stones, and was rather small. Barely even as big as Knil's hand, when he pulled it out. Link knelt down, for a better look, feeling a cold aura radiating off of it, but Knil felt a different chill. An odd strain of his eyes, as though they were sinking into his head. Neither of them could see the whites of his eyes turning black; causing the red glow to stand out stronger.

And a voice. A cold deep voice echoed in Knil's head, one that was all too familiar. Chanting something, but when had he heard it before?

"Uh, g-g-guys?" Navi shuddered, drifting down closer to Link. "Can we get out of here now?"

"What?" Link looked up and saw eight legged shadows slowly descending from the ceiling. He didn't need to see them any clearer to know what they were. Link stood, setting an arrow. They may have a large protective shell, but if he hit it right, he could pierce through them. Who was he kidding? There was no way he could see well enough for that. "Knil! We gotta go!"

But Knil seemed to be in his own little world. Transfixed by the light of the Spiritual Stone.

"Knil!" Link cried, he reached down and grabbed his arm, but when he did, something almost seemed to grab, and burn both of them. In a flash of violet fire, Link released him, but at least Knil was snapped out of whatever stupor he was in. He clamped a hand to his arm and growled, "What?"

There was no time to worry about it now. "Get up! We gotta go!"

Knil might have been about to ask, what was wrong, when a strange hiss alerted him to a skulltula landing in front of him. It raised its front legs, and clicked the large pincers, dripping with venom. Knil screeched and crab walked backwards, but the skulltula lunged forward, catching his thigh, in its pincers. Blinding pain burned into his leg, but Knil drew his sword, and stabbed the creature in its plethora of eyes. The skulltula released him, screeching in pain, and Knil made a break for the corridor, unsteadily on his leg, as the acid burned away at him.

He caught up to Link, (who had, for some reason, fallen on one knee), but more settled in front of them, clicking menacingly. Link brandished his bow, swinging it around at them. He'd never had to face this many before. Not at one time. It was bad enough he could barely even make out shadows, but the clicking reverberated off the walls made it impossible to pinpoint a location.

That odd ping of familiarity echoed in Knil's subconscious again. He'd seen this before. He'd felt a large hand, on his shoulder, shove him backwards and watched as a black flame enveloped these creatures. "Fire." It hit him. "Link, torch them!"

"What?"

"Burn these bastards!" Knil cried, holding his sword ready, his back to his lighter counterpart.

Link's magic was nearly gone. There was no way he could take out all of these things, with his fire, but maybe he could clear a path. Link dug out Din's crystal and aimed it at the skulltulas blocking their exit. He spent the rest of his energy loosing a large dome of fire around him and his three compatriots. The closest skulltulas withered and curled up against the flames, but the fire had started to die out before it reached the others. It did, however ignite the webbing, burning them up fully. Several arachnids fell, from the walls and ceiling, thunking hard on the stone ground, and having to take some time to right themselves. A sea of legs flailed in the air amongst the large skulls.

The last of his mana gone, Link collapsed to the ground, his legs no longer wanting to support his weight. Knil fell to his knees as well, but he could at least feel strength enough to get back up. He slipped the stone into Link's satchel and grabbed his arm, pulling the prone Hylian to his feet. "Come on, no time to rest!" Knil forced Link onward, running as fast as he could carry back down the corridor.

Fortunately, the thinned corridor made it difficult for the skulltula to follow them. They could, however, still slip through after them, one at a time, but at least it gave them a head start. They clambered up the walls and ceiling to try and increase their numbers, in their pursuit. Finally, Knil could see the door, they had entered before, and threw himself through it, practically carrying Link. Knil kicked the door closed, breaking off a few of the black and yellow legs, in the process. The angered masses continued to skitter and scratch on the other side of the wall.

They lay on the ground, trying to catch their breath, Link's arm still slung around Knil's neck. "Can you move?"

Link strained, trying to get up. His shaking arms had taken over his whole body and he couldn't rise any higher than his knees. Knil examined the burn on his leg. It was no longer eating away at him, but the bite was a mess of black and green puss.

After a while of frantic skittering, an array of long yellow and black legs had dug holes through the walls. All four pairs of eyes whipped back towards the wall. Link tried harder to get to his feet, but nothing was strong enough to hold him.

Knil's eyes snapped up to the hole in the ceiling. How the hell was he going to get Link up there? "Shit, come on." Knil crawled over, and pulled Link onto his back. He ran over, under the hole, and jumped up to the wall. He should have been able to make it, but between his leg and Link's dead weight, there was no way. Knil clung to a skull, in the wall, trying to pull himself up, but the bone slipped, and they both fell back to the ground.

The hole. In the wall grew bigger and a skulltula started to worm its way through.

That's when Knil heard it. The skin crawling wooshing sound, and a shadow, growing larger on the ground. He looked up to see the large palm of a gnarled hand coming for him. Knil grabbed Link's arm, and dragged him under the shadow, then rolled out of the way. The wallmaster wrapped its long fingers around Link, and gripped tightly.

"Link!" Navi cried, pulling at the decaying fingers.

Link yelped, trying to pull out of the hand. "What are you doing?"

"Just stay there." Knil called as he was dragged upwards.

"Knil! No!"

Navi flew up after him, but barely managed to reach her partner's outstretched fingers as he disappeared into the ceiling.

Knil kicked off of the wall, and grabbed onto the side of the ceiling hole, just as the first skulltula wormed its way through the wall.

Navi was furious, when she puffed through the fog after him. He color had turned a deep red. "What do you think you were doing, throwing Link to that thing?"

"I can't keep running, with him." Knil yelled back, as he darted through the halls. "And besides, he should be fine. Unless someone has been less than truthful." He threw an accusing look her way.

Navi's colored faded into a paler blue. Damn it, he was right.

The skulltula had no problem determining where he had gone, and were catching up fast.

Knil plucked Navi from the air. He could apparently run much faster than she could fly, even with the pain shooting through his leg.

On through the passages, and back through the walls, Knil ran until he was stopped dead by a vast emptiness. He teetered on the edge, looking over the long pit. He knew there was a way over, but he couldn't see where it was. Link still had the Lens of Truth. Probably should have thought this through.

Navi dragged out Ivan and flew out over the pit as Knil looked back at the impending intrusion.

The two faeries fluttered over the expanse of nothingness, until they saw their light hit something solid. "Knil, over here." Navi called back to him. "Jump now, hurry."

Knil drew a deep breath, and took that leap of faith on over to where Navi was, and followed her and Ivan along the thin path. His feet slipped a bit, off the sides, but he managed to maintain his balance. He'd hoped to take it slowly, but the skulltula somehow knew where the path was, themselves, even crawling along the sides of it. Some cascaded over, but enough were following him to where he still had to maintain a brisk clip across the uneven surface. His foot slid off, only once, making him hit hard on his bad leg's knee. When he was up again, it was with a much harsher limp.

Finally, Knil had hit solid ground, and forced his speed to pick up.

After a while, Knil had to catch both of the faeries in his hat. They may have helped Link, but his eye sight was being thrown off by the uneven lighting. It didn't matter how far behind those things were, as long as he could keep going. Besides, he was pretty sure the rest was smooth sailing from here.

Before long, Knil had found his way back to the boat. He wormed his way out of the wreckage and down the long aisle. His bum leg, and the high floor of bones made it difficult for him to run. He stumbled many times, but luckily the arachnids seemed to be having some trouble, with the boat.

Knil found the hook shot, still dangling over the path. He seized it, fiddling with the controls. "Come on, come on, you piece of junk." The chain grew longer, falling into the bones. "Not helpful."

"Here." Navi wormed her way, from the hat, and pushed the switch to retract the chain. His arm snapped as he was jerked upwards. Knil could see the light from above as he drew upwards, but could still hear the skittering below. As he hit the ceiling, the sudden jolt knocked the hook loose, and Knil fell back down towards the skulltula.

"Hey!" Navi cried. "Push the red switch, on the handle."

Knil looked over the hook shot, and found what she meant. He pointed it back up towards the ceiling and fired the hook off. It pinged off the ceiling, retracting instantly. Knil growled. "Fuck this thing." The momentum, of firing it off, had pushed him back enough to be able to kick off the adjacent wall, and over to the ledge. He landed, just short of it, but grabbed onto the craggy wall. But this wall was moving. It took Knil a second to realize he was clinging to the hard shell of a skulltula, which carried him on up the cliff before it realized he was on its back. The arachnid shook him off, and lurched for him. Knil kicked the skulltula, in the face, and bolted for the hole. He climbed on up the climbable wall, and into the room with the spinning statue. Knil heard a screeching cry and he looked back to see a skulltula stuck in the hole. Finally; something to hold them back.

Knil darted through the room, rolling under the large spinning blades. If they ever got out, that may take care of them. Out the door, around the corner, over the gap, through the wall, over the last gap, and out into daylight.

It didn't matter if they couldn't reach him now, he wasn't taking that chance. Knil snuffed out one of the torches, listening as the large stone door slid into place behind him. He ran on up the stairs, flinging himself against the railing. Knil dropped to his knees, gasping for breath.

"Link, you're alright!" Navi exclaimed, zipping over to where her partner must have been.

Knill glanced over to see the little blue faerie glued to Link's face, in what must have been a hug. He must have regained some of his strength, because he was on his feet again. Still, he seemed to be favoring his right leg. Knil laughed, out of relief, and pushed himself up. "Well, that was a fun trip. We'll have to do it again someti-"

He was cut off by a pair of gold clad gloves gripping the front of his tunic, and slamming him back into the wall. "Don't you ever do that again!" Link gasped, his eyes burning.

"Master!" Ivan hung back, having been dislodged from his shoulder.

Navi's hands snapped over her mouth, in shock.

Knil's head was thrown for a loop, but he forced himself to focus. "What the hell was that for?" He placed a hand to the sore spot, on the back of his head, feeling a lump might be forming. Damn that boy had some force.

"You could have gotten yourself killed. We could have figured a way out together, instead of you taking on that pack alone."

Knil knocked Link's hands off. "That was the only way out. If I kept you with me we would have both been killed. Don't be so stupid."

Link stood there, his breathing harsh. His nails dug into the palm of his gloves.

Navi drifted closer. She had never seen Link so angry. "Um, Link... he has a point."

"Shut up, Navi!" He snapped at her, without turning his head from Knil.

Navi withered back, settling down on the railing.

"You could have at least waited for it to come back for you." He shouted, his white knuckled hands shaking. His eyes started to burn.

"For one thing." Knil growled, "I didn't know the damn thing came back, and two, there was no time for me to wait. All I could do was secure you and run."

Raged tears traced down Link's face. "You could have died!"

"Well, what the hell does that matter!? All that matters is your life, and that damn stone. Who the hell cares if I live?"

"I do!" Link cried, making Knil's eyes grow wider at seeing the tears flow down his counter-part's face. They soon settled into a glare again. "Yea right. Well, you gotta hell of a way of showing it." He rubbed a hand on the back of his head, and mumbled, "Not like you're the first to hit me when he's pissed off."

The last of his strength sucked out of him, dropping Link to his knees. Link ran his fingers through his hair. He hadn't been this angry since he'd fought Ganondorf, but it felt so different now. He was angry at himself, and was taking it out on Knil. He can't do that. It wasn't fair. "I'm sorry. I-I'm only angry because I don't want anything to happen to you. I need you, and not for the reasons you think." His eyes turned back up to Knil to see his face had softened. "I Just, I don't know." He scrubbed a hand over his face, aggravated. "I've never felt so helpless before." Link laughed at himself, and shrugged. "I'm supposed to be the hero." His vague smile faded. "I'm supposed to always know what to do."

Knil's brows knit together, as he glanced back at him. If he was looking for sympathy again... it was working. Knil definitely knew what it felt like to be helpless. Unable to live up to what was expected of him.

"You don't have to go back to the castle. I know you don't like it there." Link stated, starting to try and get to his feet. "I just want to make sure you're not going to disappear again.

Knil rolled his eyes with an aggravated sigh, and helped Link get to his feet. "I make no promises."

Link took that to mean, 'not today', which was somewhat comforting.

Knil helped Link get down, from the railing and they started back through the graveyard. Once Link was steadied, he actually did fairly well with walking on his own. He was limping, but that was about it. "It should be alright if you stayed in Impa's house." Link stated. "I can see what the sages know, and come back."

Knil snorted. "Yea, and be in prime position when those skulltula's escape and devour this town."

"They're not getting out." Link assured him. "Nothing in the temples are able to leave. It's like there's a um-" Link trailed off, realizing where this conversation was going.

"Like there's an invisible barrier keeping them in."

Link bit his tongue. "Yea, something like that."

Knil sighed. "It wouldn't be the first time."

"Well, I guess most creatures aren't smart enough to escape."

Knil's vision flashed with memories of his defeat in the Water Temple, and his rescue by what he could only guess was a Zora.

" _Take care of Link."_ She said. Well, he was definitely staying true to that wish. Damn.

After a bit they stopped by the door to Impa's house. "You sure you're gonna be here when I get back?"

Knil pondered this question, for a moment. He really didn't want to stay here alone. Sitting around like a child waiting to be told what to do. He sighed. "I'm not staying here."

"But, Knil-"

"I want to know more about this stone. I'm going with you."

Link was a bit hesitant about this request. "What about Ganondorf? His presence still lingers in the castle."

Knil paused, his eyes drifting to the ground. "His presence follows me where ever I go. The castle is no different."

Link still wasn't sure, but at least Knil was prepared for it this time. "If you're sure." His eyes drifted down to the hole is his dark gray pants. "We could get your leg taken care of better with Zelda's magic anyway."

Knil rolled his eyes. "Oh yes. Can't wait."

Link just laughed as they strolled out of the village. "I promise, you'll grow to like her."

"That's the kind of devotion I expect from her dog."

Link frowned. "Do you want me to hit you again?"

"Pssht. Whatever." Knil folded his arms, turning his eyes towards the setting sun. No, he really didn't. It was surprising enough to find out Link had that kind of force. He didn't want to learn it again.

xXx

The reception was far colder than it was before, but guards were stupid anyway. Who cared what they wanted?

As they approached the castle again, Knil stopped, staring up at the towers. The sky behind them had turned red once again, and the white stone, black. He closed his eyes, drawing in a deep breath. His hands clenched, trying to push the cold chill back down his spine. When he, once again, opened his eyes the black towers were white again. The sky a clear crystal blue.

"Knil?" Link touched his shoulder, drawing his attention, but not his eyes. "You doing ok?"

A smile slid across Knil's face. "Yea. I got this."

xXx

"You two look like you had fun." Zelda stated brightly, as she greeted them in the throne room. Well, at least it was bright towards Link. She didn't pay any mind to Knil's presence.

Link smiled. He knew they looked like hell. "You could say we ran into some minor issues, but at least we found this." He had started to reach into his satchel, and Zelda screamed, "LINK, NO!"

He drew his hand back out, already holding the small stone. It was like holding a snowball, his fingers growing numb.

Zelda just stared at the stone, slack jawed. It was an interesting expression for her. "Y-you... you're touching it?"

"Um... yes? Should I not be?"

She hovered around the stone like a cat eying a fish. Knil laughed at her, but was still ignored. "I don't know. Impa said you..." She reached a hand towards it. There was a chilling aura around the stone, and she tapped it lightly, with two fingers. A rush of wind flooded from her lunges and through her hand, and Zelda collapsed onto the ground.

"Zelda!?" Link cried, and fell to his knees next to her. Even Knil was startled by this, and snatched the stone from Link's hand before he accidentally touched her with it again.

He could feel that strange draw on his eyes again, and a chill enveloping his body.

"She's still breathing." Link scooped Zelda up into his arms and carried her off into the castle, not caring one lick about his limp.

Knil glanced down at the stone, and noticed something else was strange. His smokey skin appeared to be darker. This strange discoloration only seemed to be affecting the fingers of the hand holding the stone, and not his other. It didn't even reach up much past his glove. What was this?

"Master?" Ivan was flitting in front up him, wringing her hands. She was obviously kind of scared of this strange change, but was trying very hard not to show it. "Should we follow them?"

"I suppose." Knil stopped to clear his throat. He wasn't sure if Ivan heard it, but there was a strange echo to his voice. At least that's the way it sounded, in his head. Knil slipped the stone under his belt, and watched his hand turn back to normal. He could still feel the cold against his belly, but the strain in his eyes was gone. "Come on." And so was the echo.


	6. Chapt 6

Zelda was laid up in the infirmary. All the healers could figure was that she was suffering from acute exhaustion. A couple days rest and she should be as right as rain.

Link and Knil were in there as well, and the healers were surprisingly attentive... to both of them. Knil had some kind of leaves wrapped around his leg, drawing the venom out of his wound. (They ripped his pants more to get to it. He wasn't too happy about that.) The leaves smelled sour, but awfully nostalgic. Almost to the point where it was starting to smell sweet. They even stitched and wrapped up some cuts and abrasions he didn't even know he had.

They wouldn't have realized Link's leg was injured, if it wasn't for the blood seeping through his pant leg. It was just a cut, but strange how there was no initial tear. Knil, however was intrigued by this far more than they were. Link's injury was in the exact same spot as his own. When did that start?

Link was sitting by Zelda's side, when she finally woke up. She moaned softly, laying a hand against her aching head. "Princess?" Link spoke low, touching her hand. "How are you feeling?"

"I'll be ok." She responded, her eyes closing again. "I was just a little startled."

Knil rolled his eyes. Yea, startled. Still, he got to his feet and stood at the foot of her bed, leaning against the railing that held her fancy curtains. The Spiritual Stone was placed in the vault, far away from Zelda. Of course, he didn't see much of a point, since it only affected her when she touched it, but whatever. It was Link's request.

Zelda sighed, shaking her head. "Impa warned me about touching it, but I... I don't understand."

Link glanced back at Knil, then to Zelda, taking her hand. "What did Impa say?"

Zelda's voice was weak, but at least she could keep her eyes open. "She said that it was the stone of death. The way she spoke it sounded as though anyone not attuned to the darkness would have the life sucked out of them."

Knil snorted a laugh. "And you touched it anyway. Not as wise as you claim to be, hey hon?"

Link shot him a scathing look, but Knil just ignored it. As did Zelda.

"I admit, it was foolish of me."

"So, why aren't you dead?"

"Knil." Link scolded.

"What? It's an honest question. If it kills you, then why is it that her royal highness is still kicking? Got a little bit of darkness in you too, sweetheart?"

"Link was holding it." She stated plainly, lowering her eyes to him. "I already admitted it was stupid, alright, but I was just testing it out. I thought, maybe, if Link was able to hold the stone, then I would be alright"

Knil resigned to her logic, turning his back to the rail. "Yea, they don't get any more pure than him." He responded with disdain. "Though, that would have been information we could have used before. You're lucky he's not dead."

"I sent Navi back with a warning."

All eyes turned to the little faerie, hovering over Link's shoulder, who turned a soft pink hue. "I guess it slipped my mind?"

Knil smacked her in the head, with his fist, knocking her flat to the ground.

"Hey." Link called, scooping up the little faerie to check on her. "What have I told you about that? She's much smaller than you."

"Stupid bug could've got us both killed." Knil sneered. "Is she ever really any help?"

Navi turned redder, rubbing her head. "Hey, I saved your sorry ass from those skulltula."

Knil snorted. "I could have gotten out just fine, on my own."

Navi zipped up, in his face. "You think you're so tough, but you know you'd be dead, if it wasn't for me."

Link sighed. "She's fine." He turned back to Zelda, taking her hand in both of his. "Are you sure you're ok?"

Zelda gave him a smile to try and tell him to stop worrying. "I'm fine. I just need to rest."

"Are you certain?"

Zelda laughed, laying her free hand over his. "Link. I assure you that I'm fine. Why don't you try to worry about yourself, for once?"

"I think it's my job to worry about you."

Knil rolled his eyes, pushing off from the railing. "She said she was fine, Link. Just let her sleep it off." He spun around and strolled over towards the door. Ivan drifted over and settled on his shoulder. "In fact, I think I deserve to do the same." Knil stepped out and left with a broad salute. "Sweet dreams, Zel." He sauntered down the hall, snapping his fingers in on odd rhythm in his search for whatever room he was in before. This one was a little too fancy for his tastes.

Zelda stared at the door, raising an inquisitive brow. "What did he just call me?"

xXx

Zelda eventually fell back asleep, and awoke some time after the sun was long gone. She sat up, stretching her arms high over her head. It must not have been as bad as she thought. She could feel most, if not all of her strength returning. She rolled her legs out and slid her bare feet onto the cold tile floor.

Her attention drew to the tinkering blue light resting on the pillow next to Link. Apparently he finally caved and decided to get some sleep. She was just thankful he actually moved to a bed.

Zelda stood, her nightgown falling around her ankles. She flexed her legs, testing the strength in them, and slowly made her way over to the window. A sigh escaped her lips, hands dropping on the window sill. She gazed down at the small lights of castle town, and smiled. It had been a while since she had snuck out to play in the town. Security was much tighter now that she was in charge of the kingdom.

Zelda spun back around to face the room, leaning against the window frame. Link moaned lightly, in his sleep, rolling over onto his back. He seemed restless. Was it something to do with Knil, or was he having his own nightmares. It was really difficult to tell anymore.

Something on the dresser caught her eye, and she made her way over to investigate.

It was her crown.

Zelda was starting to feel dizzy again, and sat down on the chair in front of the dresser. Gently, she lifting the delicate looking metal, in her hands, sliding it down, over her forehead and gazed into the mirror. It fit her very well. Not just for the way it settled on her head, but the color and design complimented the shape of her face; the golden tresses of her hair, and even her skin tone. This crown was made for her. Or rather... she was made for it. This crown had never felt so heavy before. With a deep sigh, Zelda closed her eyes and replaced the crown. Exhausted, she dropped her face in her hands, fingers twining with her hair.

xXx

Knil sat crossed legged on a bed, somewhere within the castle. It looked familiar, so he assumed it was where he was at before. He was tired, but held no real desire to sleep. His fingers slowly unraveled the braid of his hair, not even realizing he needed to position them higher to finish it off.

Ivan lay curled up on the pillow. She had tried to stay awake with him, but her exhaustion soon got the better of her. That's ok. She had a difficult day. At least one of them was able to sleep.

It was probably his imagination, but Knil could feel that his cheeks were sunken in. His mouth felt dry, and a chill continually crawled over his skin. It had to be some kind of fever. Maybe a side effect of the skulltula venom. He hadn't gotten a good look at the bite, since the healers were tending to it, but it had looked far worse than when he checked, in the temple. It had to be the light. Yea. Light made everything worse. Light was what was killing Link right now. This whole world would be a lot better off without it.

A deep throated laugh echoed in Knil's head. His heart skipped a beat, eyes shooting around the room. Didn't really know why he was looking. There was no way he'd be there, but you can never be too certain of what was real anymore. "Where are you?"

The laugh was shorter, this time, but still just as chilling. _"I have certainly taught you well."_

Knil glanced back at Ivan. That voice seemed to be echoing very loudly. Surely she would have heard it, but the little faerie was still sound asleep. He closed his eyes, pushing in on the sides of his head.

" _It's been a while, hasn't it?"_

"What do you want from me?"

" _Can't I just say hi?"_

Knil gripped tightly to his hair, and pulled. "You're supposed to be locked away. How is this happening?"

That haunting voice chuckled again. _"As you said before, 'I'm always with you.'"_

Knil drew in a shuddering breath, shaking his head. "No no no no. I didn't mean that literally. How is that even possible?"

" _Come now, Shadow. The hero's blood is not all that flows through your veins."_

Knil's hands raked through his hair, turning his gaze up towards the wall. "Blood?"

" _You do indeed have many questions. I will give you all the answers you want, and more, but you have to do something for me."_

Knil shook his head. "No."

" _The princess will be returning to the Sacred Realm soon. Get in her good graces."_

Knil's face burrowed into his knees, pulling at his hair.

" _Do the one thing I could not, and earn her trust. Get her to take you to the Sacred Realm, and find me."_

"No."

" _Release me, from this prison, and I will tell you all you wish to know."_

"No." Knil sobbed. "No, I'm through with you."

The room suddenly got very hot as anger filled the room. _"Remember your place, Shadow."_ Knil felt as if an invisible pair of hands seized the front of his tunic, and yanked him off the bed.

His eyes snapped open, pushing up from the bed. _"Remember who gave you life."_ The last traces of the voice faded into the distance. Knil could still feel the pressure of someone grabbing his clothes. A hand fell to his chest, realizing he wasn't even wearing his tunic. What the hell did he grab? Apparently, he was laying on his front, when he fell asleep. He didn't even realize he'd fallen asleep.

Ivan was sitting on the pillow staring up at him. "Master? Is something wrong?"

Knil closed his eyes, running a hand over his face. He felt some kind of cooling pad attached to his forehead. Whatever, his face felt hot. "When did I fall asleep?" He barely had any breath to speak.

Ivan seemed confused by this question. "You fell asleep almost instantly." She smiled, floating up. "Which I'm thankful for. You were exhausted."

Knil growled, dropping face first, into the pillow.

The door, to his room, opened, and he turned his head to see one of the healers from before. She had short black hair tied back in a bun. "Oh good, you're already awake." Without any prompt, she started into the room, holding a tray of something. "I was afraid of waking you." She set the tray on the table, next to his bed, and smiled. "The Princess isn't the only one suffering from exhaustion."

Knil rolled his eyes. "What do you want?"

She didn't even bat an eye at his curt tone. "I just wanted to see how your leg was healing up." The healer then seemed to realize his shirtless state. "Are you decent?"

Knil couldn't help but find the question ironic. He was probably the least decent entity in this castle. Still, he had to check under the covers, before answering. "Seems so."

"Good." The healer wasted no time in throwing back the covers, and set to work on his leg. Knil was still wearing the pants they'd torn through, so she could easily get to her wrappings. Under the bandages, the leaves were withering. She removed them and started digging around on the tray for replacements. The bite definitely looked a lot better. The bleeding had stopped, and only had slight yellowing around the wound. His sight was soon obscured by the leaves being laid over his wound again. Whatever medication was in those leaves burned on first contact, and she wrapped the bandages around to secure them.

"Did you do this?" Knil asked, touching the cool pad on his forehead.

"You were moaning in your sleep and had a fever." The healer answered. "That should help bring it down."

"Oh." Knil ran his hand along the pad. Great. So, he was just having a nightmare.

"All done?" The healer finished securing the knot on his leg, and gathered her supplies onto the tray. "You should really get some more rest. I can get you a tonic to help you sleep." She offered, and Knil shook his head. He said he didn't want it, but she was already out the door.

The healer came back shortly, with a bottle of some kind of blue liquid, and laid it on the table. "Here, this should help."

Knil eyed the fizzing bottle like it was poison. "I don't want to sleep."

The healer sighed, sitting on his bed. "I'd be better, for you, if you could." She lifted the cooling pad, placing her hand against his forehead. "This is a special tonic I created specifically for the princess." She replaced the pad, tracing her hand down to his cheek. "It'll stop you from dreaming." The healer stood and made her way out the door.

Knil brushed away her touch in disgust. Who did she think she was? His gaze fell over to the blue bottle, which was making light fizzling noises. It would truly be incredible if this stuff actually did what she said. If so, why would the princess need something like that?

Knil sat with his legs now over the side of the bed, and stared down the bottle.

"Master?" His fingers gripped the side of the mattress as Ivan settled up on his shoulder. "It would be good to see you-"

She was cut off by Knil suddenly standing, dislodging her from his shoulder. He grabbed his shirt, from the floor, and threw it over his head, storming barefoot, out the door.

xXx

Link lazily dragged himself into consciousness. He was sitting up on the bed, before really being awake.

"Link, are you ok?" Navi inquired, touching his face, and drew him back to his senses.

Link may have been about to smile, but he yawned instead. "Yea." His eyes landed onto the bed, next to him, and realized it was empty. He rose briskly, to his feet. "Zelda?"

Navi drifted up in front of him, and pointed towards the dresser. Link saw Zelda sleeping, with her head resting on her arms, and made his way over. He laid a hand on her back, and her head snapped up. "Zelda? Are you alright?"

Zelda sighed, laying a hand against her forehead. "Yes. I got up, at some point last night, and I guess I dozed off again."

"You really shouldn't be sleeping like that. It's not good for you."

"I'm fine, Link." She responded, slightly annoyed. "I just kind of drifted off." Either way, she accepted Link's assistance in standing. Her legs were a little shaky, though that could be because she had fallen asleep while sitting.

"Do you think you're alright to take another look at the Spiritual Stone?" Link asked cautiously.

"I should be alright." Zelda stretched her legs, feeling the strength returning to them. "I'll just try not to touch it."

Link laughed lightly. "That would be a good idea." He led her over to her bed, and she sat down.

"Alright, Link, you can go now."

"What? But I-"

Zelda gave him a snide look. "I can't very well head to the Sacred realm, in my nightgown, can I?"

Link's face flushed a light red, and Navi laughed. "Oh... of course. I'll um, just find Knil." He turned and ran out the room, sliding on down the hallway.

Zelda's eyes narrowed slightly. "Sure." She sighed. "You do that."

xXx

Knil had stealthed his way into the vault, easily sneaking past any guards. (Almost like he wasn't even there.) He leaned against the back wall, staring at the small round stone; turning it over in his hand. The strange pull on his eyes had returned, as well as his skin darkening. It was almost like he had stuck his hand in a stack of coal. On up his arm was blotchy, and certain areas were darker than others. There didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to the discoloration. Why was he reacting this way? His fingers traced over the smooth stones, eventually finding a space where it was uneven. He turned it over to better examine the rough area.

"Oh."

"How the hell did you get in here?"

Knil glanced up to see Link standing in the doorway with the guards, at the door, standing behind him. He just smirked, and shrugged. "Guess you're not that good at your job." His voice had echoed again, catching Knil off guard. Even Link seemed startled. Of course, that could also have been seeing his eyes were black. It had startled Ivan as well. However, Link regained his composure a lot easier than she had. "I was looking for you." Link started to walk closer. "Ivan didn't even know where you went." He looked down and realized the stone held in his dark hand. "That's definitely an interesting reaction."

Knil nodded his head in agreement.

"Does it hurt?"

"Nope." Knil responded quickly, tossing it up to him. Link yelped, catching the cold dark stone, as Knil got to his feet. The darkening gently faded away. No, it didn't hurt. It was strange, but it definitely didn't hurt. "So what, now? Are we meeting up with your princess?"

"Yea." Link stared down at the stone. It felt weird, in his hand, but there was no physical change, like with Knil. Sure his fingers were kind of numb, but that was just because it was cold. Also, why didn't it affect him like it had Zelda?

"Good, let's go." Knil dug his hands into his pockets and headed for the door. The sooner he found out about this thing, the better.

xXx

They met up in the library with Zelda already digging through the books. Knil had to give the girl some credit. She was obviously still rather worn, but hiding it well.

"That was fast." Navi commented, settling onto the table. Zelda had managed to adorn her full "princess garb" and even started continuing her research before he ever retrieved the Spiritual Stone.

Zelda shrugged. "It's a gift. Ok, so." She clapped her hands, looking over the books strewn out on the table. "What have we learned about this stone so far?"

There was a spiral staircase, on either side of the door, leading up to a secondary area of the library. Knil perched on the spiral railing, wrapping his arms around his knee. Ivan perched on his hand, sitting down. Knil stared off at the stone clenched tightly in Link's hand.

"Well." Link began, rolling the small orb around, in his fingers. "It's not nearly as powerful, as the stone of light." He gave a short ironic laugh. "Which, I guess, I'm thankful for, or else we might have lost you."

"That is strange." Zelda started scribbling in some kind of notebook and stopped, tapping the feather against her chin. "When I went to see Impa, she just said it only impacted a smaller radius."

Link eyed the stone, then placed it on the table. "Must be a very small radius."

Zelda shook her head. "I don't know. I'll just have to wait and see what she says. Is there anything else?"

Link placed his hands on either side of the stone. "I don't know about death, but there seems to be an aura of cold around it."

"Cold?"

"Yea. It's like holding ice, and I can even feel it from here."

Zelda started scribbling in her notes again, missing how Link's eyes drifted back to Knil. Was it really important for her to know how it effected him? She already didn't like him. Would it really be a good idea to add more black marks to him?

Zelda sighed, looking over her writings. "I'm a little confused by this. Impa mentioned that this stone should be just as powerful as the Stone of Light."

Link's brow furrowed in confusion, lifting the Dark Stone back up, for a better look. "The Stone of Light was far more powerful than this. It was able to sustain a thriving, forest based echo-system in the middle of the desert. There's no way this thing has that kind of power."

"It's broken."

Both stopped and glanced back at Knil, who was apparently occupying his attention with looking around the room.

"Broken?" Link asked. "How do you know?"

Knil rolled his eyes over towards him. "There's an area of it that's unevenly fragmented."

Zelda stood up to get a better look as Link examined it closer. It took him a bit, but he finally found the area Knil was talking about. The fracture was so small. "Are you sure this is a break? Maybe the crystal just formed this way."

"It didn't."

Zelda's eyes narrowed a touch. "How can you be sure?"

"Because, there's no reason for it to form that way, for starters. Why would the rest be a smooth ball, and that one area look broken?"

"That could be part of its design. What do you know of the Spiritual Stones?"

"That would explain why it's weaker." Link added quietly.

Knil huffed, crossing his arms. "You're either too proud to admit that you're wrong, or you're arguing just to spite me."

"I just don't see how any of your input could be informed or valid." She snapped, venomously.

Link was just very confused. Since when did his princess become so aggressive? Even Navi, who was commonly starting fights with the shadow, was feeling uneasy about this occurrence. (Apparently Knil brings out the worst in people.)

Knil jumped from the banister, marching over. "I'm trying to help you."

"We don't need your help."

Both had their hands planted on the table, staring each other down. "What do I have to do to get you to trust me?"

"I don't see it being possible."

"Fine, then." Knil growled, standing up, his fists clenched by his sides. "How about if I reveal a piece of information that not even your precious hero was even willing to show you." He snatched the stone from Link's hand, stirring up a small protest, from his lighter-side, but Knil ignored it.

Knil held the stone out to her, so that she could see the Spiritual Stone of Death was in his hand. He could feel his eyes darkening, and his hand faded to black. A gradient rolling up to his shoulder. What he didn't realize was the roots of his hair starting to turn white.

Zelda's eyes grew wide, backing up a few steps. "What... what's happening?"

"Hell if I know. I'm just as curious as you are about it. It does this every time I touch the damn thing." Knil slammed the stone back onto the table. "Let me know when you decide to stop being a bitch." He turned and stormed towards the door.

Link made for him, and grabbed his arm. "Knil, hold on."

"Shut up." Knil yanked his arm out, shoving Link away. He continued out the door without any further objections. Ivan held back for a bit and blew Zelda a raspberry before following her master.

Zelda was feeling an odd mix of shock and guilt... mostly shock. Nobody had ever dared to speak to her that way before. The guilt was primarily from Link looking sad.

Navi sighed, spinning around. She glanced at the stone, sitting near her, making sure to give it a wide birth. "Don't worry too much about him, princess." She spoke softly, fluttering upwards. "He has a tendency to over-react to most situations." She spun around towards Link. "Right, Link?"

"Huh?" Link glanced back at them. Zelda glanced up at him, hopeful. "Oh... yea, I guess he does." Link turned back towards the door. He didn't dare try and point out to her how unfair she was being. "I think he's just a little stressed."

Zelda sat back down, dropping her head into her hand. "Yea... he's stressed."

Link made his way over and dropped into the chair across from her. "So, where were we?" Zelda sighed, examining her script again. Link's fingers traced the stone, rolling it around on the table. His eyes caught the uneven area along the one side. He had to give it to both sides. It could be broken, but the fracture was so clean and symmetrical that it possibly could have formed that way. Although, no offense to Zelda, for some reason it just seemed like Knil would be the one to know. He couldn't exactly say why. It was just a feeling he had. Hopefully that wasn't a presumption just from Knil being a shadow. That might be a form of racism. Heroes can't be racist.

xXx

Knil stormed into what he now knew as his designated room, fuming. He thought he hated that Zelda before, but now he just wanted to strangle her. If it weren't for Link being there, he might have done something. Knil kicked the bed, dislodging the mattress. It might have helped if the force didn't agitate the bite on his leg. Knil growled and sat down on the bed, pressing in on his wound. He really hated everything.

The aggravation dragged him back to his feet, walking around the room. Once again, he was limping. That didn't help. He wanted to do something. He was bored and angry. That was a dangerous combination. Knil made his way over to the window, following the line of guards on around to the road. He could leave. That was always a fun option. If only for the stupid notion of seeing how many times Link would actually come after him.

Yes, he was petty. Or antagonistic. Whatever, he didn't give a shit anymore. Everything about this place sucked. Between Ganon's voice bugging him, and pissy princesses, this had to rate pretty high on worst places ever. Just under the Water Temple. There's nothing that can be worse than that damn Water Temple.

Of course, if he had to deal with this place much longer the castle may win out.

xXx

After some time, Zelda had finished gathering her information and readied to depart for the Sacred Realm. Navi had suggested they bring Knil along, but she may have only asked, with her partner was not willing.

Zelda immediately refused, trying not to sound bitter or snippy, but the underlying notion was there. Link dismissed himself to tie up some loose ends. Zelda immediately understood the unspoken meaning, and let him go, saying she would meet him at the castle gates.

xXx

Link was somewhat relieved to find Knil in his room. He was sitting in the open window, glaring out over the horizon; his arms held firmly around himself. Almost like he was trying to stave off a chill in the warm breeze.

Link crossed his arms, leaning in the door frame. "Zelda and I are heading to the Sacred Realm." He tried to choose his words carefully; potentially afraid of offering a false invitation.

"I'll be here, when you return." Knil responded plainly, not bothering to look back at him.

"That's good to hear." Well, that at least answered one question, but that wasn't the main reason he was dropping by. "Are you doing alright?"

Knil huffed a sigh. "Yea, fine." His gaze drifted down to Ivan, sitting on his knee. He felt he wanted to say something else, but the words didn't come to him. Whether it be snarky, aggressive, or even just sad, he couldn't say. There was no way of knowing what he wanted Link to hear anymore.

"I just wanted to make sure you were ok, with us going on without you."

A chill rolled along Knil's skin. "I don't want to go, so why would I have issue with it?"

Link shrugged. "Just a thought." It was mainly thinking to point out that Knil might be uncomfortable here, but there was really no need to bring up something that he didn't need to hear or think about. "Just wanted to make sure you'd still be here, when we returned." Link finally settled on.

"I already said, I would."

"Ok then." Link finished off, pushing off of the door frame. "Stay out of trouble, Knil." He swept from the room, and made his way for the castle gates.

Knil glanced over towards the door, listening to Link's retreating footsteps until they faded away. He sighed listlessly, and turned his gaze towards the spot where Zelda and Navi waited patiently, for their hero. After some time, Link joined them, and the three ventured on to the Temple of Time. (Apparently, Zelda saw no need to head out in disguise.)

Knil ran through a set of issues rolling around, in his head. After a time of consideration, Knil came to a decision. "Ivan." He started, feeling his throat go dry again. "Follow them."

Ivan flitted up, a little confused. "What?"

"Find out where the entrance to the Sacred Realm is."


	7. Chapt 7

Impa, Nabooru and Rauru were waiting upon their entrance into the Sacred Realm. Navi was caught off guard by a long red fabric, flowing down to her partner's ankles. Upon further inspection, she began to realize that Link's clothes were different. Almost holding a kind of renaissance appearance; complete with shoulder shields and a long red cape. "What's going on here?"

Rauru laughed lightly. "Appearances in the Sacred Realm shows someone for what they truly are. The ancient hero," He gestured towards Link, then over to Zelda, who was adorned in a long glowing white gown, and a crown of beads across her forehead. "And his Goddess."

Zelda sighed; almost as if she didn't want this information divulged.

Nabooru rolled her eyebrows. "You should see Ganondorf."

Link and Navi were just confused. "Care to explain that?" Navi inquired, but Link cut her off. "Maybe later." He dug in his satchel, drawing out the small violet orb, and held it out to Impa. "Here, we found this."

Like Zelda, Impa seemed startled to see Link holding it, then understanding dawned on her face. "This isn't right." She took the stone from Link, rolling it over in her hands. "The stone is broken."

Link glanced over at Zelda, who was trying very hard to not be annoyed by this confession. "How could that happen?"

Impa shook her head. "I was afraid of this."

"What?" All three of the visitors inquired.

Impa exchanged looks with her fellow sages, stepping closer to Link. Link took a small step back as she examined him closely. "What is it?"

Slowly, she reached out a hand and touched some kind of shimmer, floating in front of his chest. Upon her touch, Link felt his heart give a sudden jolt. What appeared to be a black shimmering string appeared; stretching from his chest, to the dark stone, clenched in her other hand and on up towards the sky. All eyes followed it upwards, out of sight. Just as instantly as it had appeared, the string vanished

"What is that?" Navi asked, feeling she already knew the answer.

"A connection." Impa stated plainly.

"Between Knil and me." Link continued.

"And also to the stone." Zelda finished off, eyes narrowing on the Spiritual Stone. It wasn't until she realized the horror stricken look on each sage's face that this anger turned to concern. "What does this mean?"

"It means exactly what it looks like." Nabooru answered, for her. "If that other end was truly connected to that shadow, then Link and him both are connected to the Spiritual Stone of Death."

Both Link and Zelda felt the color drain from their faces. Navi, however, turned red with anger. "What do you mean, Link's connected to this thing too? How did this happen?"

xXx

Knil felt a jolt, in his chest, and he could hear some kind of strange voice. It wasn't a voice he was used to, but some kind of deep female voice. He even thought he'd heard Zelda and Navi as well. Maybe even Link at some point. As quickly as the voices had come, they seemed to fade off into the wind.

With as odd as that had seemed another, more familiar voice came to him. Not as though it were talking to him, but almost as if it rang through his mind in a suppressed memory. It was that strange chant again, but he could almost make it out this time:

_Through this blood of mortal being  
Take his shadow ... make it worth seeing._

_Listen ... and quickly perform._

_…..._

_Only by killing light will shadow truly exist._

Parts of this chant seemed lost to him, but enough came out. He planted his face in his hands, running them through his hair. Everything in his memory kept telling him he needed to kill Link, but what good would it do for him to exist, if he was dead along with him?

"Master?" Ivan flitted in through the window, floating in front of him. Her face fell as he looked up at her. "Are you ok, Master?"

Knil sighed, scrubbing his face. "Don't you start with that too. What did you find out?"

Ivan settled on his knee, shaking her head. "They went into the Temple of Time, but I didn't see any entrance to the Sacred Realm. The princess just put a barrier around them, and they fell asleep."

"They fell asleep?" That didn't make any sense. Link was supposedly brought to the Sacred Realm, to protect him as he slept. Ganondorf could have easily killed him if it wasn't a physical transference.

xXx

"I don't understand." Zelda gasped, in shock. "That Shadow was made with Link's blood? How did Ganondorf get Link's blood?"

At this question, Rauru tensed up, eyes falling sadly. "The hero's magically induced coma was as much a shock to me, as it was to anyone else."

_(xXx)_

_With the opening of the Door of Time, Ganondorf's goal was finally within his grasp. He stepped over the thresh hold and saw that young boy, who dared to oppose him, laying unconscious. The small blue faerie was down with him, next to the pedestal. The Master Sword lay limp in his hand._

_A venomous grin curled along his face. "So, you truly are the boy of legends." Ganondorf slowly circled Link's body, the tip of his sword skirting the ground. "To think that such an insignificant mouse is destined to one day be my downfall." He stopped, nudging Link onto his back, with his foot, staring down at the small child laying helplessly before him. "I will not give you another chance to destroy me." Ganondorf raised his broad sword over him, ready to strike._

_A loud caw rang through the temple as a large brown owl closed in on Ganondorf, knocking him away, but not before the Dark King's sword embedded itself deep into Link's stomach, making him gag in his sleep. Ganondorf hit the opposite wall, with the force of the bird's talons._

_Kaeporo Gaeporo enclosed his wings around Link, glaring daggers at Ganondorf._

_Ganon glared back, wiping blood from his face. "Insolent meddler."_

_The owl cawed at him, a bright light encircling his body. When the light dissipated, Rauru was left holding the bleeding child tightly in his arms, deep within the Sacred Realm. "Link." He gasped, beginning to try and heal him._

_What he did not realize was that Ganondorf had latched on, in his transcendence, and was now standing over him. A tall imposing figure surrounded by a black aura and what appeared to be flames around his head._

_Rauru faced him, in shock, his face twisting into a sneer. "You beast." He growled, lunging for him, a light sword bursting into his hand. He swung, but Ganondorf jumped back, and away from his assault. "I will not allow you to retrieve the Triforce."_

_Ganondorf laughed, catching the light blade on his own. "It seems we are at an impasse, for you have a choice."_

" _What?"_

" _Protect the Triforce," Ganon's venomous grin deepened, "or save the hero."_

_The realization hit Rauru hard, his eyes shifting back to the child bleeding out, on the ground. Ganondorf took this moment of distraction to throw his assailant off, and make a break for where the Triforce was held. "Thank for showing me the way, Kid."_

_(xXx)_

"I had a choice." Rauru finished off, feeling the weight of his guilt a heavy burden. "Because of my decision, that monster gained full access into the Sacred Realm, and the world was thrown into chaos."

"Don't blame yourself." Zelda stated calmly, laying a hand against Rauru's arm. "It would be a hard choice for anyone to make, but I believe you made the right one."

Link felt the ping of guilt hit him as well. He didn't blame Rauru for choosing to help him, but it was bad enough knowing he opened the door into the Sacred Realm. Now he found out his life was chosen over protecting the Triforce. Even still, he was thankful. "You were always there to guide me, and you saved my life." Link smiled. "It's not often I have someone protecting me."

"Everything turned out alright." Zelda assured him; though it was difficult to tell which _'him'_ she was assuring. "Ganondorf is locked away tight, never to darken this world again."

"So, what about this connection?" Navi inquired, touching the spot where Impa had earlier, making Link's heart leap again, and the string briefly appear.

"Don't do that." Link scolded her, and Navi shrugged.

Zelda's brows creased again. "Is there some kind of way to severe it?"

Impa thought on this notion. Link, however, didn't like the sound of this.

"If so, it may break whatever's making this shared pain thing happen." Nabooru suggested, but Impa shook her head. "Or, it could kill them both."

"Ok, let's not do that." Navi stated, settling down on Link's shoulder.

Zelda wasn't satisfied with this resolution. "There has to be some way. It's causing more and more problems."

"Zelda, this isn't what we're here for." Link added, almost flippantly.

"Link is right." Impa nodded. "I can see what I can figure out about this connection, but on the other hand, I'm afraid there's nothing I can do about Link's real problem, without the other piece." She sighed, handing the stone back to Link.

Link slipped the stone into his pouch. "What is the other piece supposed to look like?"

"The orb you hold is merely a top of the full stone." Impa waved her hands making what seemed like a black fog appear and take shape. It showed an oval with a small orb adorning it. The image dispersed in a wisp. "I'm afraid I can't say where the rest of the stone is, but I shall try to find it. In the mean time, I believe I should meet this Shadow Link."

"What?" Zelda's nose crinkled. "You want me to bring him here?"

Impa nodded slowly. "By meeting him, I might be able to better read this connection, with the stone, and find its location."

xXx

When they emerged from the Sacred Realm, the sun had already started to go down. Zelda dispersed her barrier, trying to hide her huffiness. "Why would Impa want me to bring him, to the Sacred Realm?" She wasn't doing a good job of it. "Of all things she could ask of me."

"If it'll help." Link offered, teetering on the line of annoyance. "She said she could find the other part of the stone, which could help save my life."

Zelda sighed, settling down on the stairs around the Pedestal of Time. "I know. I'm sorry. I just don't like the idea of bringing something Ganondorf created into the very place he's imprisoned."

That did it. Link sighed, stepping down next to her. "He's not a thing, Zelda." He stated, still trying to sound respectful. "Knil is his own living entity, not some kind of object that someone else owns."

Zelda glanced up at him, biting her lip.

"Why don't you try cutting him a break." Link turned away, and started towards the door. "He's been through enough already." Navi followed her partner on out, through the Door of Time, leaving Zelda behind to comprehend his words.

"Are you sure you should be leaving her alone?" Navi inquired, landing on his shoulder.

"She can take care of herself."

xXx

After some time, Zelda trudged up to the castle alone, and was instantly bombarded by her guards. They were mainly panicked in the knowledge that Link had returned without her. Even with his assurance that she was fine, they still riddled her with inquiry.

"I'm perfectly fine. Calm down." She tried to reassure them, worming out of their grip. They made her promise to get inside of the castle instantly.

Zelda strolled up to the castle, feeling more annoyed now, than she had been before. She couldn't even go out, on her own, anymore. Not like they ever liked it when she did, but that was beside the point.

xXx

After much consideration, Zelda found her way to Knil's room, intending to give him a piece of her mind. However, what she saw made her stop in her tracks.

Knil had found the water basin, and was cleaning himself off. Or, as it seemed, possibly trying to sooth some kind of heat. His shirt was off, drying his face with a towel. Despite what some might think, it wasn't the sight of this finely toned male standing before her that gave the princess stall. When Knil's long dark hair fell away Zelda could see that his back, and what she could see of his sides, were criss-crossed with numerous scars, standing pearl white against his smokey gray skin. Scars made from possibly any type of media. There were way more than she had ever seen on Link, so they couldn't all be from this shared pain.

"Enjoying the show, princess?" Knil stated, upon realizing she was there.

Zelda composed herself, folded her arms, and leaned against the wall. "Just thinking that Link should really grow his hair out."

Knil scoffed, ringing out his hair. "And I suppose he should color it black, too?"

Zelda shrugged. "If he wants. I thought you didn't like water."

Damn it, Link. Knil huffed, throwing the towel down and turned fully towards her. "Is there a reason you're here?"

Zelda forced down any annoyance she had upon entering, and pushed off the wall. Her feet shuffled over, linking her hands behind her back. "I was just thinking, maybe we got off to a bad start."

Knil rolled his eyes. "Let me guess, Link put you up to this?"

Zelda gave him a look of condemnation. "He may have suggested something, but that's not the only reason I'm here."

"I see." Knil mocked a bow, but scooped his shirt up from the ground. "So, why does the lovely princess grace me with her presence?" He turned away, sliding it over his head.

There was that annoyance again. "I was thinking about it, and I realized something." Zelda slowly stepped closer. "You don't bow to me."

Knil scoffed. "Yea, no shit. Took you long enough."

Zelda merely continued, ignoring him. "Everyone else, around here, bow and scrape to my every whim. Even Link still thinks of me as a princess first... but not you."

Knil decided to give her his full attention. He folded his arms, waiting for her to finish approaching him.

"You yell at me, scold me, and I don't think anyone's ever called me a 'bitch' before."

Knil had to smile at himself. "So, does this mean you're ready to stop being one?"

Zelda couldn't help herself. She smiled as well, stepping right up to him. "I'm curious. Why is it you think I am?"

Knil snorted. "You're kidding right? You mean, besides the obvious?"

Zelda assumed "the obvious" was her yelling at him. "Yes. Besides the obvious."

"How about the fact that you sit back, and force others to do your bidding."

Zelda's eyes sparked in confusion. "What?"

"You don't even see it?" Knil snorted, again, spinning around, and walking a few steps away. "You make others risk their lives to clean up your mess; just because you can't handle it yourself."

Zelda watched as Knil threw himself onto the bed, propping his arms behind his head. She couldn't quite understand his meaning.

"Thank the Goddess your little attack dog will always be there to protect you."

Finally, it clicked for her. "Link?"

Knil's gaze fell on her.

"So... You don't like..." Her eyes narrowed, not in a threatening way, but in a way that made a smile curl around her lips. "You really do care for him, then?"

Knil was trying very hard to hide how much that comment angered him. His leg propped up on his knee, bouncing innocently. "I just don't like to see anyone being used. It has nothing to do with 'liking him.'"

Zelda's smile deepened. "Impa says she'd like to meet you. Said it might help to find the rest of the stone, so we can help Link."

Knil's entire face frowned.

"You're free to come along next time we-"

"I don't want to go to the Sacred Realm." Knil growled, rolling away from her. "Geeze, what is it with you people?"

Zelda was a little affronted, but it eased out soon enough. "Well, I need at least a day to refresh my energy. Give it some thought." She turned and started out the door.

"So, Zelda." Knil began, making her stop. "Why do you need to not dream?"

Zelda turned sharply, feeling her face flush. How in the world did he know about that? It was about that time that she noted the blue bottle sitting on his side table. Her eyes lowered, knowingly. "Good-night, Knil." She said softly, before exiting.

Knil sat up, and watched as her hair swept out of the door frame.

xXx

Zelda awoke several hours later to an odd whimpering. It took her a minute to realize it wasn't her own. Even with the fleeting notion that Link may be upset with her, he was still sleeping in the bed adjacent from her's, in the infirmary.

Link was moaning, in his sleep, almost sounding like something was caught in his throat.

Zelda padded over, tracing a hand through his hair; a light blue glow surrounding her finger tips. Link gasped, letting out a held breath, but it didn't stop whatever was bothering him. Zelda thought for a moment, then stood, heading out the door.

She arrived soon after at the door to Knil's room. He was laying curled on the bed, clutching a pillow tightly to his chest. Knil was whimpering even louder than Link was, his face contorted as if in pain, and she knew the thing caught in her hero's throat was a scream. He was muttering something, that Zelda couldn't quite make out. Something about 'leaving him alone.'

Ivan was sitting next to his head, running a hand through a few strands of his bangs.

Zelda sat on the bed next to him, laying a hand against his forehead. He was burning up, and cringed more, at her touch. Her hand glowed the blue aura again, and eventually Knil sighed, settling down. With the tension of his features settled, Zelda could see a few tears trailing from his eyes.

Ivan seemed to relax too. She laid against his forehead and cried.

Zelda sighed, feeling her tension drain out as well. She didn't think he could possibly look so fragile. "Is this a common occurrence?"

She didn't think Ivan would answer her, but she must have been far too distress to care. "More frequent recently." She brushed her eyes, sitting back on the pillow. "He tries so hard to stay awake, but he isn't able to sleep all that well, in the first place, and eventually just gives out." Ivan actually flashed her a weak smile. "Good thing your magic helps."

Zelda shook her head. "It only temporarily eases his distress. It doesn't stop the nightmares." Her eyes softened sadly. "I do wish it were more potent." Not only for his sake, but her own as well. Maybe her and Knil had more in common than she initially thought.


End file.
